


Sons of the Silent Age - Season I:  The Good Son

by AnthemGlass



Series: Sons of the Silent Age [1]
Category: The Eagle | Eagle of the Ninth (2011)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drama, Epic, Multi, Romance, Science Fiction, Supernatural Elements, Thriller, episodic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-24 01:10:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthemGlass/pseuds/AnthemGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marcus returns to his small hometown of Benson, TX with a crushing sadness that haunts him.  His return after a seven years absence is met with a significant array of polarizing feelings and opinions.  Marcus refuses to allow himself to get sucked back into small town life.  However things never go quite as planned.  Something strange is happening in the town.  His old friends are different and it seems that Marcus is the next to experience whatever that something is – a rite of passage for certain young members of the town who find themselves with extraordinary abilities and profound responsibilities.  Adding to the peculiar changes, a stranger shows up.  A young man with a distinct accent who has no memory of how he got to where he was or where he came from.  Seemingly equipped with only his name, Esca must discover what led him to this small, quiet Texas town or possibly what chased him from wherever he had been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> MAIN TITLES (WARNING: Never done video editing before so it is ROUGH... and I'm not sure how to make that clickable so you have to copy paste... Imma loser):  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES (WARNING: Never done video editing before so it is ROUGH... and I'm not sure how to make that clickable so you have to copy paste... Imma loser):  
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**_Sons of the Silent Age_ **

**_Season I:  The Good Son_ **

**Episode 101:  “Pilot”**

 

Gordon Aquila stood on the porch, his hand resting on a rail that was in need of repair.  The entire porch was in bad shape.

He sighed woefully as he watched the aged blue truck driving down the dirt drive, victory wasn’t as sweet as he’d imagined.  The truck slowed as it pulled in front of the porch.  His nephew stepped out, dressed in worn jeans and an old gray shirt he stood up straight his substantial height and build definitely imposing to those who didn’t know the man.  His pride obviously in the same shape as the front porch… if not worse.

“Marcus,” Gordon sighed.

“Hello uncle,” Marcus managed.

“Despite what you might think, I am sorry for what’s happened.  Wouldn’t never wish that pain on any soul,” Gordon’s frown deepened.

Marcus nodded as he climbed the three steps, each creaking under the weight of his muscled frame.  Marcus held his hand out for a shake, the handshake of forfeit and defeat.  Gordon ignored the gesture and pulled his nephew in for a hug.  With his nephew’s body held in his arms he felt the emptiness.  No, victory was never so sour.

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus lined the nail with its rightful place against the wood panel he was hammering.  A searing pain ignited in Marcus’s stomach.  The nail and hammer fell from his grasp as he doubled over.  He clutched his stomach in desperation, willing the pain to dissipate. 

As quickly as the pain had erupted it ceased.  Marcus paused, wondering if a slight movement could awaken the pang.  He slowly raised himself up for the fetal position he had inhabited.  It seemed to have passed.

Marcus picked up the hammer and nail just as someone came walking from around the other side of the barn.

“I had to come see it for myself!  Couldn’t believe what I was hearing… Marcus Aquila is BACK!”  Jane jumped for joy grabbing on to Marcus despite his being drenched in sweat from just a morning’s worth of work on the ranch.  Luckily she hadn’t seen Marcus’s earlier episode.

“Jane,” Marcus grunted as he lifted her higher.  A hint of a smile graced his face before fading as he set her back down.

“I know…” Jane mellowed as she kicked the dirt.  “I heard.”

Marcus nodded silently then looked off into an empty pasture avoiding any direct eye contact, as if that would set him off again.

“Listen Marcus, if there’s one thing in this world that will always be the case, it’s that I’m here for you.  Been best friends since before we could walk, that’s not gonna change,” Jane shrugged.  “I’m here for you.”

Marcus nodded again.  “I know it.”

“Alright enough with the chick shit,” Jane dropped her façade of care, preferring her usual jovial aloofness.

Marcus chuckled.  “You know I was gonna visit in a few weeks.”

“Yeah right, you and I both know you were done with Benson when you were ten.  Doubt that’s changed.  You just need to get back on your feet and get the fuck out again.”

Marcus shrugged.  “Maybe so,” Marcus leaned down and picked up the second to last nail and placed it on the board he’d been nailing to the barn.  “Maybe this time you’ll get out with me.”

Before Jane could respond with what Marcus knew would be a dismissal of the idea, he began to hammer hard, his emotion emerging with each strike.  Exhaustion seemed to be claiming Marcus.  Jane wondered if he’d eaten.  Likely not, all things considered.

 

*~*~*

 

“How is he?”  Martha Schneider asked, genuine worry lacing her words.

Gordon sighed deeply for the umpteenth time thinking about poor Marcus, “He’s strong, but not many are able to bounce back from something like that.  If anybody could it’d be him.  Just wish it were different for him.”

“You mean that he liked women?”  Martha laid the judgmental tone on thick.

“No!”  Gordon flinched.  “Well yes, it’d be easier for him.  And he wouldn’t be throwing his life away.  And maybe… just maybe he wouldnt’ve gone through all this.”

Martha shook her head.  “Gordon, I’m living proof that such tragedy isn’t limited to just the homosexuals.  He needs support right now.  Don’t let your personal views get in the way so early on.  There’ll be time for that later.”

“Whose side are you on?  I seem to remember you agreeing with me just after he’d left.”

“I’m not on a side.  I may share some of your views but now more than ever I relate to your nephew.  Loosing the love of your life is a pain unlike anything else,” Martha rubbed the wooden counter she was leaning on.

“Interesting words… ‘love of your life’…” Gordon cocked his head.

“Gordon, don’t start,” Martha warned.

Gordon smirked and stepped into her personal space.  “It’s okay Martha.”  She stared into his eyes before their lips met.  Her hand left the counter to rub his arm.  Before they could proceed any further the sound of Marcus throwing the tools back in the shed by the back of the house made them pull away.

The back door opened and Marcus stepped into the kitchen, oblivious to what he’d just interrupted.  He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water proceeding to immediately chug it before refilling it again.

“Hello Marcus,” Martha said softly.

“Mrs. Schneider,” Marcus nodded his voice weak with exhaustion.

“Welcome back,” Martha said with considerable reverence to Marcus’s situation. 

“Thanks,” Marcus nodded.  “I’ll be stopping by later for some things.”

“That’ll be nice,” Martha nodded.  “Looking forward to it.”

Marcus placed the glass in the sink before bounding up the stairs to his room.  He had to get out of that kitchen.  He felt like he was fine china and Martha a purveyor of his unfortunate circumstance.  Of all the people in this town she’d likely understand him the best, but even so he’d prefer just not talk to her about it.

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus parked the truck in front of “Schneider’s Hardware” one of the select storefronts in Benson’s beautiful town square.  He opened the door causing tiny brass chimes to announce his entrance.  He mentally ran through the list of things needed for the barn.  As he grabbed more nails and surveyed the wood selection he realized he should start planning on redoing the front porch, his uncle obviously didn’t have the time to manage upkeep and get all of the chores done.  Marcus couldn’t believe he hadn’t hired a hand after he’d left.  Surely Chris Eastman had the time and at least some skill.

Marcus’s deep thoughts were violently interrupted as a large, but caring hand landed on his shoulder.  Marcus jumped back, spilling the case of nails he’d grabbed.

“Whoa there!”  Tom Schneider laughed.  “Didn’t mean to scare you!”

Marcus’s cheeks flamed red.  “My bad,” he knelt and began picking up the spilt nails.  Tom lowered and began to help to flashing his trademark smile.  Marcus, Jane, and Tom had been in the same grade level growing up.  Some people jokingly took bets on whether Tom or Marcus would be bigger, both were considerably built, no doubt due to their hardworking upbringings.  Build aside, his smile was legendary making him the star over Marcus.  The heartthrob made every girl at school swoon instantly, every girl except Jane that is (then again Tom had insinuated once that the two were distant relatives so nothing would likely ever happen).

“I heard you were back,” Tom spoke with the same trepidation as his mother.  “Sorry to hear about…”

“It’s fine,” Marcus frantically interrupted.  He didn’t want to hear another apology.

Tom’s smile faded instantly.  “I just… I guess…” He stumbled over his words obviously uncomfortable.  “I’m here… you know if you need to talk or something.”

Marcus nodded.  “Thanks Tom.  It’s alright, don’t sweat it.”

“I just, you know, with my dad and all I know how it is.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” Marcus groaned under his breath.

Tom heard and looked back down at the linoleum floor.  He seemed defeated by his attempt at conversing with Marcus.  Marcus felt bad for being so short, but so early since his return he wasn’t ready for civilized conversation. 

“You want to go out for drinks at Jerry’s tonight?”  Tom tried again.  Jerry’s was essentially a sports bar that spawned town gossip second only to the Benson Women’s Book Club.

“I’ll pass,” Marcus sighed.  He nodded to the materials he’d grab and was now holding.  “This is all I’ll be needing.”

Tom flushed red again.  “Oh right, of course.  Yeah,” he seemed to have forgotten that he was running the shop and Marcus needed to check out.  “I know it’s hard right now but some of us are happy you’re back.”

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus returned to hammering boards on the barn.  It needed a full restructuring, but this hack job would do for the winter and coming spring.  He’d really hit it hard then. 

The metronomic pulse of the hammer meeting the nail seemed to be calming whatever nerves had previously been bothering him.  He never liked being brooding and depressing, and he sure hated it when others did it.  But this was too much for him to cast aside.  This was different than any time before.

Marcus had to admit on some level though, that this particular loss was not uncommon for Benson, Texas.  It seemed everyone in the small town had some sort of loss attached to their story.  Generally a loss too early in life to be natural.

 _Tom_ , Marcus thought.  _Tom understands_ , Marcus shook his head as if trying to quite the voice inside.  Tom DID understand.  Tom’s father was one of those losses, too early and too sad.  It had been four years ago if Marcus was doing the math right.  He’d been gone when it happened but the news had still reached him.  Truly tragic.

Marcus allowed himself to be convinced that he’d been too hard on poor Tom.  He decided he would go to the bar tonight, and hopefully he’d catch Tom there.  The guy was likely the most kind and gentle man in the entire town.  He was a fucking boy scout of a guy who was always so great to Marcus.  Despite the fact that Marcus obviously had grown to enjoy Jane’s company more.   While Tom hung around with a slightly older crowd.  Garrett Moss briefly flashed in Marcus’s mind.  _Wonder how he’s doing_.

Marcus’s thoughts were violently interrupted by a sharp, searing pain in his abdomen.  It was almost identical to the pain earlier in the morning.  Marcus felt as though he was going to double over in pain.  The constant agony drove Marcus mad for the briefest moment and he felt himself almost lash out, as if that’d be the only way to overcome it. 

“Marcus?”  Uncle Aquila called out from the other end of the barn.  He was coming to check up on his nephew and likely see how far he’d gotten in a day.  The pain subsided, dissipating almost as quickly as it came.  Marcus was able to right himself and almost pull off a natural look of ease as his uncle rounded to the corner of the barn.

“Hey Uncle,” Marcus nearly wheezed.  He hoped it registered as exhaustion instead of recovery.

“Wow, you sure are getting a lot done!”  Uncle Aquila traced his fingers along the new boards.  “So you’re just doing this to get us to spring?  That’s a good idea.”

Marcus nodded.

“Will you be able to revamp the barn then?”  Uncle Aquila asked, traces of a second meaning lingering in his tone.

“Yeah, I’ll be able to knock it out.  But Uncle I think you should hire another hand,” Marcus said picking up a few more nails.  “You know, for when I leave.”

“Ah.  So you’re not planning on staying?”

Marcus shook his head.  “Don’t think I can.  Nothing is keeping me here.”

“What about family?  Friends?”  Uncle Aquila shrugged, “I’m sure Jane enjoys having you back.”

“This life isn’t for me.  I can’t help but feel pulled to something else,” Marcus shrugged.

“Like bartending?”  Uncle Aquila raised a single eyebrow.  He was referencing Marcus’s job at the gay night club in Dallas he’d worked in for the last six years.

Marcus flushed with embarrassment.  He hadn’t meant bartending, but what was worse was that he really wasn’t even a good bartender.  In fact unbeknownst to his uncle Marcus had spent more nights gyrating his hips as a “dancer” instead of fixing cocktails.

Uncle Aquila held his tongue, realizing he wouldn’t get a response from his nephew.  He toyed with the idea of telling him about he and Martha’s developing relationship, however with the current quickly sinking conversation he decided stoking the sinking ship with such a nugget of what would likely be distasteful information would cause Marcus to react rather rashly.

“Well dinner will be ready in a few.  Come on in whenever you like and get some grub.”  
Marcus nodded as he proceeded to continue nailing the boards.

“How have you been feeling, son?”  Uncle Aquila pressed. 

Marcus’s brow furrowed.  He instantly thought of his stomach pains.  It wasn’t something he wanted to worry his uncle about.  “I’m fine.”

“Okay…” Uncle Aquila patted the new board and looked up at the sky, “Looks like rain.” 

Marcus responded with his stony silence.

“Thank you, Marcus.”

 

*~*~*

 

Jane was exhausted.  After her early morning visit to the Aquila farm she had still elected to walk to the school to get some semblance of exercise into her day.  Like always her students were hellions, causing destruction and pain and all of that, but as always she loved every minute of it.  She really did have good kids this year, even if they were sometimes a little rowdy.

She felt the familiar prickled of an approaching storm.  A quick glance at the sky confirmed her suspicions.  They were going to get a healthy dose of Texas storms tonight.  She only hoped she’d make it home before it started.  She still had at least another mile to go, likely more.

A car slowed on Main Street, the window slid down.  “You want a ride, beautiful?”

Jane didn’t even have to look to know exactly who it was.  Garrett Moss.  She groaned, he was the last thing she needed right now.  “I swear to God I will kick you in the nuts…”

“Aww, come on now, that isn’t very nice,” Garrett flashed his incredibly inviting smile.  There were two legendary smiles in the town of Benson.  There was Tom Schneider’s incredibly warm and bright, infectious smile.  And there was Garrett Moss and his dashingly sexy smile.  Like a mosquito to a flame girls would flock to that smile and fall at his feet.  Only to get burned in the process.  Jane seemed to be the only one who never fell for either.

“I wasn’t trying to be,” Jane said as she continued walking, a little faster now, however Garrett had no trouble slowly gliding along the side of the road.

“Seriously Jane, it’s gonna rain,” Garrett said, dropping the act he’d been laying on thick.

As if his words were a hand turning the knob, the sky erupted and water came down in sheets.  Jane held her ground for a few moments longer, hoping that she could just make it home, but the thought of all of her students’ classwork in her bag made her second guess her pride.

She jogged over to Garrett’s old, beat up sedan and got in.  “Well there ya go.”

“Just shut it and drive,” Jane rolled her eyes.

Garrett parked the car and stared, “Jane.”

Jane groaned, “Shut it and drive, PLEASE.”

Garrett laughed, “That’s likely the best I’m gonna get.”

Jane nodded.

“One day, I’m gonna get you to kiss me,” Garrett flashed another alluring grin.  “I’ll settle for giving you a ride tonight.”

 

*~*~*

 

“I was hoping I’d find you hear,” Marcus said sneaking up behind Tom who was seated at the bar working on a tall, frosted mug of bear.

“Marcus!  You came!”  Tom smiled big, Marcus’s heart melting a little bit.

Marcus nodded taking the empty stool next to Tom.  “Yeah, sorry about earlier, I’m just…”

Tom shrugged hold up a hand, “You don’t have to apologize.  I understand.  I’m surprised you came out.”

“Yeah, I figured I should surround myself with people who knew what I was going through, at least on some level.”

Tom nodded, somber.

“Sorry to hear about your dad by the way,” Marcus said with about as much grace as a body check on the hockey rink.  “Jane told me when it happened.”

“Yeah,” Tom took a big gulp.  The dark beer was likely a Shiner Bock.  Marcus thought he remembered that being Tom’s favorite.  “It was kind of rough for a while.  But… other things happened, you know.”

Marcus nodded, but honestly he didn’t really understand what Tom was referencing.  The lingering confusion seemed to snap Tom out of his reminiscent state with a trace of regret for mentioning it in his behavior.

“I’m sorry about David,” Tom said.  “I hear he was a good guy.”

“Where’d you hear that from?”  Marcus was surprised Tom had even known David’s name.

“Jane.”

“Yeah…” Marcus took a deep breath.  “It was hard… it IS hard, still.”

Tom nodded, still somber.

“You get used to falling asleep in someone’s arms for seven years and then…”

Tom shifted, even more uncomfortable.  Seemingly in an effort to hurry the conversation beyond men holding each other Tom finished Marcus’s thought, “then life happens.”

Marcus read the discomfort.  “Yeah… life.”

A slightly uncomfortable silence fell over the two young men.  Tom took a swig of beer and stared at the bar top.

“How’s Bobby?”  Marcus asked, referring to Tom’s kid brother.

Tom’s huge smile lit his face, “He’s freaking incredible.  He’s dealt with more than anybody else his age and it’s like it doesn’t even bother him.  The little guy’s a freaking hero.”

Marcus nodded.  “Is he in high school now?”

Tom laughed.  “Yeah, crazy right?”

“Damn,” Marcus shook his head.  “Time flies.”

“The fag’s on a date,” Wes Brown, Jane’s unfortunate excuse for a brother, teased, as he and his two cronies Billy Gallagher and Chris Eastman walked by.

Marcus lunged without a thought but was instantly drawn back by large, strong hands.  Tom patted Marcus’s chest “Ignore them.”

Wes and his buddies laughed as they took their place in a far corner of the bar, their usual spot.  Traces of red fear lingered in Wes’s cheeks.  Had Marcus actually gone for the guy he could’ve beaten him to a pulp.

“You still put up with their shit?  I would’ve thought they’d outgrown it, or gotten killed for it,” Marcus shook his head in frustration.

“They’ll never change,” Tom shrugged.

“Are you worried people will think you’re gay cause you’re with me?”

Tom shook his head.  “Don’t know… honestly… don’t care.”

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus was exhausted.  It had been seven years since he’d had a day like today.  The sudden return to his old life was a shock enough, that combined with the newness of his living situation was enough to drive him crazy.  He felt the pain blossom in his stomach again.  Lying on his bed he writhed in pain, trying to muffle his shouts as best he could.

His uncle no doubt heard as he stormed into the room.  However instead of true worry or fear painted on his face, his uncle wore an expression of sovereign expectation.  Like he knew this would happen… it was only a matter of time.

Marcus stared in fear as he felt the pain worsen to a plain unlike the two from earlier in the day.  He cried out again and writhed more violently, his arms clutching his body.  The release of energy from his cries was nearly the outburst his body seemed to need.  Marcus tried one more cry but something entirely new came out.  Something so odd and so unexpecting it terrified him in to silence.  He roared.

Marcus moved his head.  In his fit of pain he fallen from his bed and landed on all fours in the center of the room.  However the position felt more natural than ever before.  Never had Marcus felt so comfortable on all fours.  His whole body felt new and completely different.  The pain was gone, replaced by a newness of body that was unlike anything Marcus knew.

Uncle Aquila nodded.  “Marcus take a deep breath.  Everything is going to be okay.”

Marcus tried to speak but nothing human came out.  The growl that did escape caused him to instantly silence himself.  Marcus turned his head to the body-length mirror hanging on his closet door.  The short, golden fur and entirely new body cause Marcus’s body to fail and shock to prevail.  Darkness invaded his vision and Marcus fell out of consciousness.

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus awoke to the sun already rising in the sky.  It was later than usual for him, even when he was in Dallas he was an early morning kind of guy, despite late hours at the bar.  The lingering dream pounded in his head.  It was the strangest thing he’d ever felt.  He sat up, instantly uncomfortable.  It was extraordinarily rare for him to sleep completely nude.  Marcus always wore boxers to sleep… always.

He lifted the blanket off and stood up.  His bare feet touched the gray t-shirt he’d been wearing the night before.  He lifted it up to find it shredded to pieces, as if it had been ripped off him with more than just one tear.

“What the hell?”  Marcus’s brow furrowed.  The feel of his voice seemed foreign to him.  It seemed his dream had more of an effect than he’d thought. 

“Marcus!”  His uncle’s call was distant but definitely serious.  Marcus shook his troubling thoughts from his head and he threw on a pair of work jeans as he ran out of his room and down the stairs.  On the porch he found his uncle standing and staring out down the drive.

“Marcus… is that a body?”  Uncle Aquila pointed to a lump near the end of the drive.

Marcus sprinted the quarter of a mile the lump.  As he approached he realized to his dismay that it was exactly that.  Marcus knelt down beside the man.  He was smaller than he by at least a half a foot and rather skinny.

His lips were chapped in only a way that a few water-less nights in Texas could do.  His skin sunburnt and his body seemingly collapsed from exhaustion.  From the thoroughfare northward, the Aquila farm would be the first drive someone would pass if the drove north along the interstate.  The sign for Benson was about half a mile from the entrance to their drive.  The next neighbor was quite a few acres north from them.

Marcus had to assume that’s where the guy had been coming from.  He gently felt for a pulse.  He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt one, weak but present.  The touch seemed to awaken the body slightly.

“Hey man,” Marcus egged softly.  “Are you okay?’

The guy coughed a dry, ragged cough.  He seemed dazed and on the verge of going under again.  Marcus lifted him slightly in his arms and the stranger took a weak breath before wheezing an answer.

“Where am I…?

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

 

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

Stranger – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

 

 

Supporting Cast…

 

Wes Brown – Max Thieriot

Billy Gallagher – Kyle Gallner

Chris Eastman – Tyler Cassidy (AKA Froggy Fresh, AKA Krispy Kreme)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first episode! New episodes every Monday (unless I actually start working on my thesis in which it might be every other Monday. But currently 5 episodes are already being edited.)
> 
> Each episode will be named after a song or piece of music and I'll post a little about it here for anyone who's interested. It'll just be me pushing my musical tastes on the unwilling readership. You're welcome. So because this is the pilot the episode isn't a song but the SERIES title is! Yay! It's actually TWO related songs. Well one's technically a song and one's piece. Take a listen. Don't know much about the David Bowie version, but the Philip Glass symphony is one of my all time favorites!
> 
> Bowie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mbfyJ3x_1Q
> 
> Glass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QEusTeBn4
> 
> If anyone is into cover art and such and thinks they might be interested in making one for this series that would be AWESOME! I'm about as hopeless at cover art as I am at video editing.
> 
> And I am a terrible editor (about as bad at editing as I am at writing). So if anybody wanted to beta/edit the episodes before I post them, let me know!
> 
> Also just so you know the series will pick up speed, but in order to introduce each of the characters in the depth that they deserve I am taking a little time. This work is an Eagle FanFic so Marcus and Esca are THE central characters. But I really want this ensemble to mesh and hopefully produce some rocking stories.
> 
> If you're a stranger to Oliver Fish or any of the other supporting cast members and you want to know more by all means contact me! On here or my e-mail: anthemglass@gmail.com (same goes for comments OR criticism!)


	2. New World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Episode 102:  “New World”**

 

_Click click click click…_

This new world was terrifying.  Leonardo couldn’t believe what he’d done.  Leaving Brazil behind he had signed up for a student exchange program that landed him in the middle of a small town in Texas.

_Hey Leo, sorry, I got caught up with the office_ ,” Gabriel said running up and wrapping an arm around young Leo’s arm.  Leo folded his cane.

“ _It’s okay_ ,” Leo smiled.  It was nice to have Gabriel at his side again.  At least the move hadn’t lost the most important person in his world.  Leo was able to bring along a guardian in the exchange and his parents had seen the benefit of he and Gabriel experiencing something new.

“ _This school is bigger than the last_ ,” Gabriel smiled at Leo.

“We speak English, not Mexican, faggots!”  Leo felt his heart race with fear as the voice invaded his senses.  A hard shove sent his books flying and separated him from Gabriel. 

“It’s Portuguese!”  Gabriel shouted back.  Leo took a step towards the direction Gabriel’s voice had sounded from but a passerby nudged him and his course was lost. 

“Hey!  Mike!  Fuck off!”  An angry voice cried out beside Leo.  “Are you okay?”  Leo froze at the new voice that had shifted to genuine worry and care.   “Mike’s a loser.”

Leo understood him, he’d had English lessons since he’d started school.  But the shock of the new environment seemed to scare him into submission.

“Leo,” Gabriel’s inviting voice sounded to his right, Gabriel’s usual position.  “Thank you, we are okay.”  Gabriel must have been speaking to the caring boy. 

“You guys need help?  You’re new this year, right?”

“We are fine,” Gabriel replied.  Leo smirked slightly, he knew Gabriel better than anybody.  He was jealous, it was clear.  Leo loved when Gabriel was jealous, it just meant he cared. 

Leo stuck his hand out, “I’m Leo.”

“Hi Leo, I’m Bobby Schneider,” Bobby took Leo’s hand.  It seemed he was just to his left from the angle the hand had come from.  “Welcome to Benson.  Sorry you had to cross Mike’s path so soon.”

“No hurt,” Leo shrugged.  “It’s high school.”

“ _We’re going to be late, Leo_ ,” Gabriel said in hushed Portuguese.

“ _Don’t be rude_ ,” Leo replied.  “Where’s the English room?”

“English Lit with Ms. Brown?”  Bobby spoke with a smile.

Leo nodded.

“Great!  That’s my first class too!  You guys can follow me.”  Leo could almost hear Gabriel’s eyes roll.  He felt Gabriel’s grip on his arm tighten, protectiveness firm and comforting.  Leo never felt as at peace as he did with Gabriel. 

After their trip down the hall Leo, Gabriel, and their new friend Bobby headed into their first class of the morning.

“Hey Ms. Brown,” Bobby flashed a smile reminiscent of his older brother, a good friend of her’s.

“Bobby,” Jane greeted.  “Leonardo and Gabriel?”  She had their names on her roster.  They were new to the school from the exchange program.

“Leo,” Leo nodded holding his hand out again. 

“Pleased to meet you,” Jane shook.  “And you’re Gabriel?”

Gabriel nodded.  “I want to sit next to Leo.”

Jane laughed.  “That’s okay.  You’re in luck, there’s two seats open next to Bobby in the front.  Gabriel huffed with disappointment.  Jane assumed it was because they’d have to sit in the front, but Leo knew it was because they couldn’t seem to shake their new friend Bobby.

“We don’t have the braille machine just yet.  The school needed to order a new one because we simply couldn’t find the old ones we had promised.”

“Is fine, I’ll take notes for both of us,” Gabriel shrugged.

“And I can fill you in on anything you guys missed,” Bobby added.  Gabriel’s arm tightened even more and Leo chuckled.  This was going to be fun.

 

*~*~*

 

“Sweet Jesus,” Sheriff Meredith Moss rubbed her forehead in frustration.  “This is going to be a shit storm.”

“Who do you think killed her boss?”  Deputy Oliver Fish asked playing the “small-town cop” when Meredith full well knew he was smarter than he was putting on.

“Fish, I just got on the scene, how the hell would I know who did it?”  Sheriff Moss laughed and Deputy Fish chuckled, they’d gotten used to each other over the last two years.

Meredith looked around the surrounding road.  The woman had not ventured far from Interstate 35.  She’d been shot while still sitting in the driver seat of her car.  As if she’d rolled the window down for her killer to easier shoot her. 

Blood painted the steering wheel and splattered behind the body.  Meredith didn’t recognize the girl, but the town was just big enough to allow that sort of thing, though it was rare.

“No struggle,” Meredith noted aloud.  “What happened to you?”

 

*~*~*

 

“Any news?”  Marcus asked the Dr. Shepherd as she came out of the stranger’s room. 

“He’s asleep, he’ll need some time before he comes to.  He’s dehydrated and obviously burned, he must’ve been out in the sun for days.  It’s a miracle you found him.  He wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” Dr. Shepherd patted Marcus’s shoulder.

“Did he say anything… anything about who he might be?”

“He hasn’t spoken since you brought him in.  We’ll let you know if he wakes,” Dr. Shepherd eased his nerves.  “And just so you know if there’s anything up with the whole situation Sheriff Moss may have to come speak to you.”

Marcus nodded.  He assumed so all things considered.

Marcus drove home, trusting he’d be called when the stranger awoke.  He drove down the dirt drive and admired the farm.  He did miss it in the city.  Dallas couldn’t compare to the serene beauty of Benson.

“Hey Uncle!  I’m back,” Marcus called as he walked in the house.

“Okay Marcus.”

“Hey.  Is the herd smaller?”  Marcus asked referring to the buffalo.  His uncle’s ranch had raised buffalo primarily with farming crops helping to support the buffalo trade.

Uncle Aquila grunted, “Oh yeah, sold a bunch a while back.  Feed is expensive.”

Marcus frowned and nodded, deep in thought.  “Well I’m going to go get some work done.  Kind of behind now.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing you want to talk about, son?”  Uncle Aquila raised a single eyebrow.

Marcus shook his head.

“Last night?”

Marcus remembered his dream.  He didn’t tell his uncle about it.  That couldn’t be what he was talking about.  Was he talking about Tom?

“Marcus, what happened last night wasn’t a dream if that’s what you’re thinking.  You need to face it.”

“What…” Marcus paused.  _Couldn’t be.  That’s not possible_ , Marcus thought.  “Wait… are you saying…” 

Marcus froze in his position.  Instantly he knew his uncle was right.  He knew that what had happened really happened.  The torn clothes, the nakedness, the realism of feel in the dream. 

“Marcus, you turned last night,” his uncle said.  It didn’t matter, Marcus wasn’t listening.  He couldn’t process the thoughts in his head.

“…what is happening?”  Marcus breathed.  Marcus couldn’t do anything, he couldn’t think, he could hardly breath while a familiar churning of pain erupted in his stomach.  He bolted from the room and ran out of the house.  Marcus had found solace in the forest beside the farm.  The dense woods were what separated the farm from the interstate.  Many didn’t realize just how big they were. 

Marcus had found a place in the woods comprised of huge rocks, likely left after building the road.  It created a small mountain that Marcus had made into a private home.  He’d gone there many times growing up, if he ever needed to escape.  He’d always promised to show David the spot if they ever visited Benson.

Now alone among these rocks Marcus couldn’t make sense of anything.  The last time he’d felt like this was when he’d come to his own personal realization that he didn’t like Jane the way everyone wanted him to.  Though the pains subsided, his fear did not.

For the first time in nearly fifteen year Marcus was felt truly confused, alone, and scared, the familiar stomach pain flaring inside causing him to writhe.

 

*~*~*

 

Sheriff Moss opened the front door to her home, exhaustion washing over her.  It’d been a harder day than most.  This small town wasn’t used to deaths like this… not recently at least.

“Hey Mom,” Garrett said as he ran water in the casserole dish he’d just finished using.  “I fixed ya a plate.”

She sighed in relief.  “Thank you, son,” she grabbed Garrett’s head with her hands and kissed his head, emphasizing the “MWAH!”

Garrett laughed, “Mom!  I’m twenty-nine!”

“And you’ll get treated like this until you move out of my house,” she said sitting down at her plate and taking a bite.  “And please god never move out.  This is delicious.”

“I had a good teacher,” Garrett said.  Fond memories filling his head. 

“Your father would’ve loved this.”

Garrett cleared his throat deciding a change of conversation was in order.  “So I heard there was a murder!  Near the highway?”

“You know I can’t tell you…”

“But you will anyway.”

“But I will anyway,” Meredith smirked.  “A young girl was shot in her car on the side of the road near the interstate.  She wasn’t from town.  Seems she was heading home from work at the casino.” 

Benson split the difference between Dallas and the border of Oklahoma.  The border between Texas and Oklahoma is littered with large casinos that draw work forces from as far as sixty miles away.

“Damn,” Garrett breathed.  “Must’ve been a rough day.”

Meredith hung her head.  “You don’t even know the half of it.”

 

*~*~*

 

“…And that’s the basic gist of _Hamlet_ ,” Bobby said closing the book.  The twin blank stares he received were signs that their study session had obviously lost it’s productivity and that he probably wasn’t doing the best job of teaching the two fellow students.

“ _Did you get any of that?_ ”  Gabriel asked Leo in Portuguese.

“ _Not a word_ ,” Leo replied.  “Thanks Bobby!”

Bobby smiled wide.  “Happy to help!”  He put the book down beside his bed and leaned back against the headboard.  “So why Benson, Texas?”

“It was random.  Applied for this in the mail and this is what we got,” Leo shrugged.

Even though they were just sitting it was obvious that Gabriel was making a point to sit close to Leo.  Bobby got the distinct feeling that Gabriel didn’t like him much.

“Well I think you’ll like it here,” Bobby smiled again, hoping that his grin could win over Gabriel.  It rarely failed.

“Not if any more Americans try to hurt Leo,” Gabriel sneered.  “…Or me.”  He added that as if an afterthought.

“It’s not so different than Rio,” Leo shrugged.

“It is different.  There we can speak Portuguese!”  An awkward silence fell over the three.  Disturbed only by a playful smack on Gabriel’s shoulder from Leo.

“Did you leave a girl behind in Brazil, Gabriel?”  Bobby wondered if maybe that was what his problem was.

“No,” Gabriel sneered.

“Gabriel is my boyfriend,” Leo smiled.

“Oh,” Bobby smiled.  “That’s cool.  With me at least… not so much the town.”

Gabriel groaned, “Don’t worry about him, he’s safe with me.”

Bobby smiled again, “I see that.”

 

*~*~*

 

  
“Hello Jane,” Gordon Aquila rubbed his head trying to will the headache away.

“Mr. Aquila?  Is it Marcus?”  Jane held the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she grabbed her small backpack she kept ready.

“Yes,” Gordon replied.  “He didn’t take it well.  He ran into the woods.  I think it’s best if you go talk to him.  You know what it’s like.”

“Marcus?”  Jane asked as she reached the rock clearing in the woods.  She’d discovered it a few years back during a transformation.  If anybody else had found this rock formation it’d have been Marcus.  It was no secret he spent much of his high school years brooding in these woods.

“Go away!”  Marcus yelled from behind a large cement outcropping. 

“Marcus you need to come out,” she tried again dropping her small bag on the ground next to her.

Marcus tried to calm himself.  He was becoming irrationally angry that she wouldn’t leave him alone.  He was afraid of what might happen.  “LEAVE!”

“Marcus…”

“GO AWAY!  Please Jane LEAVE!”  Marcus said.  It was too late.  “Oh god!”

In nearly a single instant Marcus’s body exploded into a new form.  Marcus landed on the soft forest ground a new beast.  The largest mountain lion Jane had ever seen.

“Nice,” she smirked.  Marcus lunged at her with beastly passion and definite anger.  Jane followed suit by exploding into her own new form. 

Mountain lion and black bear met in a fearsome and powerful tackle.  The two unnatural animals wrestled.  The bear managed the upper hand pushing the lion back and knocking him to the ground.  She pulled back and stared at Marcus for a moment before Marcus’s inner self seemed to grasp on to his control and his consciousness won over. 

Jane understood.  She delighted in the brief spar.  It was nice having a beast to compete with.  She’d felt so alone before this.

_You okay, Marcus?_   She asked.

The mountain lion froze and stared in disbelief.  It was odd seeing a mountain lion with such human behavior. 

_Marcus?_

_How are you doing that?_   Marcus growled as he tried to speak his question.

_Just like that.  Minus the growling, you can just think it_ , Jane said, her large black bear form coming out of its defensive position and settling on the forest floor.

_How do I get out of this?!_   Marcus’s eyes glinted in fear.  As he finished his thought his body transformed back and he fell forwards. 

“SHIT!”  Marcus said breathless standing and trying to find his bearings.

_Very nice_ , Jane said, pointing her paw to Marcus’s bare-naked body.

“Holy crap!  Don’t look!”  Marcus’s voice cracked for the first time in years as he desperately tried to cover himself.  He settled behind the rock outcropping he’d been hiding behind before.  

_You’ll get the hang of it_ , Jane said.  _I’ll be right back_.

Jane disappeared into trees with a small bag behind dragged by one of her large nails.  A minute later she came back out dressed in different clothes than she’d been wearing before. 

“You should probably get used to carrying a spare set,” she laughed.

 

*~*~*

 

“Drink up.  It’s good for you,” Jane said nudging the beer towards Marcus. 

“You… you turned into a…”

“Let’s keep the bear talk to a minimum.  Public and all,” Jane shrugged.  “But yeah.  It’s a family thing.  Same with yours.”

Marcus returned with a confused look.

“We’re not related.  No worries.  Hence the bear vs. mountain lion,” Jane replied.  “I assume at least, not completely one hundred percent on all that.”

“Shit,” Marcus breathed.

“You can say that again,” Jane agreed.

“What are we talking about?”  A familiar and incomparably annoying voice chimed in on the opposite side of Jane.

“Nothing you’d be interested in Garrett, get lost,” Jane sighed.

“Well I have something you might be interested in,” Garrett replied.

“Not now,” Jane groaned.  “Just go away.”

“All right,” Garrett shrugged as he started to leave the bar stool, “I was just going to tell you about the murder today.”

Jane reached out and grabbed Garrett’s collar.  “Stop,” she said grasping the shirt.  “Tell me.”

Garrett smirked deciding not to push anymore with his teasing.  He recounted his mother’s tale of the murder and how they found the body.  “Crazy right?”

“Yeah crazy,” Jane said deep in thought. 

“What are you thinking?”  Marcus asked worried that it could be related to their previous conversation.

“Later,” Jane deadpanned. 

“Well I actually came here to meet some other guys, so you don’t get the pleasure of hanging with me tonight,” Garrett smiled.

“Pity,” Jane said standing from her stool.  “Come on Marcus, we have to do that thing.”

“Yeah,” Marcus confusedly agreed.  “That thing…”

 

*~*~*

 

“Just what I thought!”  Jane exclaimed as she filed through the articles on the screen.  “This isn’t a one and done thing.  He’s killed a bunch of girls before.”

“Huh,” Marcus replied, still in a daze.

“You know what this means, right?”

“You want to stop him?”

“WE are GOING to stop him.”

 

*~*~*

 

“Hey Tom!”  Bobby cheered as he walked into the kitchen after a few hours of being holed up in his room.

“Hey buddy!”  Tom smiled.  “How was school?”

“Pretty good,” Bobby said taking a seat at the table.  “I met two new students from Brazil… Leo and Gabriel.  And one of them’s blind.”

“Blind eh?”  Tom said placing their dinner on the table and taking a seat.  Their mother was at the store late as was sometimes the case on weekdays.  He grabbed his brother’s hand and the two recited their family prayer as they did every night.

Once they had finished Bobby continued on chattering about Leo and Gabriel.  “…And they’re gay!”

Tom froze for a moment.  “And how does that make you feel?”

Bobby shrugged.  “About as different as knowing Leo’s blind.  I’m just worried about them getting teased.  Leo had a tough enough day as it was.  And Gabriel’s not shy.  I don’t want to tell them to not be themselves, but you know… Benson is not so nice to those kinds of people.”

Tom nodded, flushing red a bit in shame for his close-mindedness that he hid deep down.  He felt a swell of pride for his brother’s maturity and kindness, but he shared similar fears for Bobby as Bobby for Leo and Gabriel.  He didn’t want anything to happen his baby brother.

 

*~*~*

 

“…I’m a giant fucking black bear and I’m pretending to be a fucking damsel in distress.  Why am I the fucking bait?”  Jane continued to talk to herself in her car.  She had been driving up and down Interstate 35 waiting for something.  The road was nearly empty due to how late it was.

All of a sudden blue and red lights began flashing behind her.  “FUCK!”  She hit the steering wheel in frustration as she pulled her car over.  This was embarrassing.  Marcus had been tracking so he’d seen her getting pulled over.  “Try to catch a killer and save some lives and I’M the one that gets in trouble.”  She fished through her glove compartment looking for her registration.

From behind her car a bright spot light flashed, blinding her and causing her to curse even more.  She sat back up with her license and registration in hand, watching the silhouette of the officer approaching her window.

She rolled down the window and sighed in frustration.  The killer had probably driven even further down the interstate all ready.  This was annoying.

As the officer stepped up to her side Jane instantly felt something change, she felt her stomach drop and the primal instinct took hold, immediately she knew she was in danger.

The police officer unhooked his sidearm and pointed it directly in her face.  He was the killer.  That was how he was able to kill so easily.  The ruse of the police officer was likely a simple method of gaining a significant upper hand.

Jane fought the desire to change, it’d be difficult to do it in her car considering how big she would get.  Plus then it’d give away her secret unnecessarily.  She had to trust that Marcus was seeing this.

Something crashed on top of her car causing the officer to real back in fear.  “Holy shit!”  It was likely the largest mountain lion he’d ever seen.

Marcus sneered before leaping on the man and pressing him to the pavement.  His head reeled back and he lunged ready to bite. 

“MARCUS!”  Jane shouted causing Marcus’s jaws to freeze just above the man’s head.  “No… not like this.  It’s not right.”

Marcus hovered for a moment, seemingly considering his predicament.  She was right, but he hated the idea of this sick man getting free.  The animalistic instinct to attack felt as though it was going to win over.  However at the last minute the realization that Jane’s form could easily stop him seemed to help make his decision for him.

With a swipe of his paw he knocked the man out cold.  Marcus stepped off of the body and paced, willing his primal instinct to subside and allow the adrenaline to stop pumping. 

“Good job,” Jane breathed.  “We got him.”

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus lay in his bed, wide-awake.  The adrenaline made it seem like he would be up all night.  He didn’t mind it though.  It was an opportunity to really think about what the experience that night meant. 

He saved Jane, sure… but really he had saved any other women that killer would have killed afterwards.  He could do good with this ability.  Marcus felt a measure of warmth knowing that, but he also felt a bit of despair, as if the weight of such a responsibility could win out if a balance wasn’t kept.  In a way this new world was terrifying.

His phone buzzed softly on the bedside table next to him.  He lazily reached for it, wondering who would be calling so late.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mr. Aquila, this is Dr. Linda Shepherd with Northern Texas Regional.  You were under the contact information for the John Doe you brought in.”

“Yes,” Marcus said sitting up.

“He’s awake.”

 

*~*~*

 

It’d been a long night.  Vigilante justice had prevailed and the perp was in custody.  Something just wasn’t right.  Oliver picked up the police photos taken once the guy was in custody.  His naked body photographed from every side, stripped of its secrets and dangers.

Oliver pulled the photo up closer to his face.  His front, a photo Oliver hadn’t really looked at before, had serious bruising paired with some sort of laceration.  He had to think for a minute as to what weapon could’ve caused that.  Soon he realized it wasn’t a weapon. 

“Claw?”  Oliver questioned aloud.  Was he attacked by an animal?  Oliver laughed at himself.  What kind of animal attacks a serial killer and drops him off at a police station?  But something in his gut, his gut that’d earned him numerous badges of honor before moving to Benson, Texas told Oliver that there was more to this story.  Way more.  He’d find it.  He never backed down from a challenge.

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

 

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

John Doe – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

 

 

Supporting Cast…

 

Bobby Schneider – Sterling Beaumon

Leonardo Ribeiro – Guilherme Lobo

Gabriel Alpednre – Fabio Audi

Sheriff Meredith Moss – Paget Brewster

Dr. Linda Shepherd – Radha Mitchell

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this episode is derived from Dvorak's Symphony No. 9: "From the New World" (or more simply the "New World Symphony"). It's incredible, breathtaking and 45 minutes long. One of the instruments I used to play is in the piece for like a total of a minute and a half or something like that. But I primarily play trombone and it's got some pretty badass parts in it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETNoPqYAIPI
> 
> Scenes from next week's episode "Glassworks":
> 
> Marcus and Jane hone their skills in an effort to prepare for any evil they may face. They could never have guessed the true terror in the black hearts of the most dark individuals. A local high school football star has been taken captive and it's up to Marcus and Jane to save him. Meanwhile John Doe tries to make a temporary home with Marcus and Gordon Aquila who have obvious differing opinions on his staying on the ranch. Despite Gordon's distate for the young man, John stays if only to be close to the magnetic pull of his savior Marcus.


	3. Glassworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Episode 103:  “Glassworks”**

Shane choked on some liquid… could be spit, could be blood.  How long had he been here?  How long had his arms been fastened so tightly behind him by the thick rope that left tiny splinters in his wrists.  Those splinters had become such an afterthought.

An afterthought to the tears, burns, and bruises that covered his body.  He looked down at his exposed thigh; the man had experimented with a blowtorch there.  Having been left alone for so long made Shane’s mind reel with insecurity and fear.  He’d progressed from a paralyzing fear of the coming pain, to the terrifying realization that no one would ever touch him again with these grotesque scars, to the final dawning that there would never be another person to see him alive anyway.

The dark room’s awful smell had become nothing of note to Shane who’d lost track of just how long he’d been trapped there.  Without a window he had no real way to even tell if it were day or night.  Sometimes while the man “worked” on him he’d say things that alluded to the time passed, but Shane figured this man’s torture techniques went way beyond the physical. 

What this man could not know was just how strong Shane was.  Shane Spear, the captain of the Benson High School Football Team, dating the most beautiful cheerleader in school.  His confidence and pride was overshadowed only by his unflinching kindness.  He’d always been a friend to every student at Benson High.  From bullies to the bullied, Shane was a friendly face that was always welcomed.  Such strength was not something that could be so easily broken by the nail that had been hammered through body, just below his clavicle.

He would not be broken.  He could not be broken.

Then the door opened and HE walked in again.  Shane braced for impact.  He had to stay strong.  Shane couldn’t break.

HE just laughed that deep, unhinged, uninhibited laugh.

 

*~*~*

 

_Is that all you got?!_   Marcus leapt up to the top of the concrete pile having beaten Jane by a significant length.

_Shut up.  This wasn’t built for speed.  Just mauling_ , she reached up, swiping and growling at Marcus.

Marcus dodged her attack but fell to his side allowing Jane’s substantial bear form to take control and claim a position over him.  They could be much rougher with each other in these situations. 

_Shit Jane!_   Marcus was thrilled by the challenge of freeing himself. 

_Annnnnd you’re dead_ , she got off him and sauntered into the woods with her pile of clothes she’d stripped out of and left by the concrete.  Marcus leapt up and found his behind the concrete and quickly transformed.  He stretched his human muscles, basking in the warmth of the Texas Sun.  He sighed as he decided he had to put on clothes to be socially acceptable.  However just his gym shorts would do fine.  He just grabbed the rest and held it in his grip.

“Show off,” Jane said as she strutted back into the clearing dressed in her usual jeans and a flannel button up. 

“I’d better get back to the house, in case he’s woken up,” Marcus groaned. 

“And I have to shower and get ready for work, like a good, upstanding citizen of this town.”

“Nothing good can come of you teaching high schoolers.  I imagine you get them in more trouble than teach them Hemingway.”

“Just cause I wasn’t the best apple in school doesn’t mean I can’t make up for it.  But we steer clear of Hemingway… don’t want to fall asleep while teaching.”

 

*~*~*

 

Uncle Aquila walked up to the bathroom door.  The shower was obviously running.  Marcus must have had a very late start today.  That was unlike him.  Then again he did have a lot on his plate.  Going from what had happened to David to his new ability in less than two weeks would be a lot to handle for one person.

Uncle Aquila was about to knock when the shower stopped and some rustling signified Marcus was out of the shower.  However when the door opened Gordon was faced with anything other than his nephew.  The man was a good half of a foot shorter, thin, but with muscle tone.  He had a towel wrapped around his wet body that shimmered with the warm water that had just been pelting the taught skin.

“Oh!  Hi,” he said tentatively.  “You must be Marcus’s uncle?”

“Yes.  And you are…?”

The stranger shrugged.  “Dunno.  The hospital named me John.”

“John,” Gordon mulled the name and the idea of what John must be going through.  “You have an accent.”

“I do,” John shrugged again.  “Dunno what it is though.”

“You’ll get there,” Gordon patted John’s naked shoulder.  “Have you seen my nephew?  I need to talk to him.”

“Left early this morning with that girl,” John’s blissful ignorance seemed like a high.  “The pretty one with the hair.”

“Jane,” Gordon almost groaned.  “All right.”

As Gordon nearly stomped away John rubbed the back of his head nervously, “Jesus.  Odd family.”

 

*~*~*

 

“Are you crazy Marcus?”  Gordon slapped the side of the barn Marcus had gotten to work on.  “He cannot stay with us!”

“Why not?”  Marcus scoffed.  “He needs our help.  The guy can’t remember anything.  Not even his name!”

“Have you forgotten what you’re…” Gordon chose his words carefully, “going through?”

“I’ve got that under control…”

“Ha!  Hardly!  Marcus you don’t understand the gravity of the situation.  John can’t stay…”

“If he goes I go,” Marcus dropped the hammer and stood up straight.

Gordon stared dumbfounded.  “You must be kidding.  We don’t know anything about him!  And don’t act like I don’t know why you’re doing this.  I’ve seen it.  You’re already sizing him up.  Moving on a little quick aren’t we Marcus?”

Marcus’s face flamed red and his chest began to expand with rapid breaths. 

Gordon almost smirked.  “You can hardly keep yourself from changing right now.  What makes you think you’ve got any control?”

Marcus desperately swallowed his anger, not letting it get the best of him.  His uncle was right, that was much harder than he’d imagined.  “I’m not…”

“Marcus,” Gordon’s tone was much softer and caring.  “You went through something truly awful.  And now with everything that’s going on, John is just going to confuse things.”

Marcus hated that his uncle was right.  He didn’t want to admit that he was attracted to John, but something pulled him towards the stranger so strongly.  “At least let him stay for a week.  Maybe we can figure out who he is by then?”

“One week,” Gordon surrendered.  It was likely the best he’d get.

 

*~*~*

 

“Shane Spear is missing!”  Bobby said taking a seat in the front of Jane’s class.

Gabriel guided Leonardo to his desk before taking his own seat.

“Who is Shane?”  Leo asked.

“Shane Spear.  All American jock extraordinaire.  He’s a real nice guy.  Popular with everyone.  By this point you would’ve normally met him buy now.  But no one knows where he is!”

“No one knows where who is?”  Jane asked interrupting their conversation.

“Oh uh, Hi Mrs. B.  Shane Spear.  Apparently his parents have filed a report or something.  It’s been three days!”  Bobby replied.

Jane nodded.  She knew Shane, she’d had him in her class the year previous.  He was a very good kid.  In fact she’d venture to say that behind Bobby, he was the best student she’d ever taught.  She was surprised it hadn’t come up in gossip among the teachers, perhaps Principle Smith had told everyone that knew to keep quiet.  Nothing in high school stays quiet for long.  “I’m sure they’ll find him,” Jane tried to reassure, but there was no way she could know that.  Unlike others, however, she knew that she possessed the power to do something.

 

*~*~*

 

“Hey Marcus!”  John said jogging up to Marcus while he was hard at work on the barn.  The recent events had put a serious damper on his schedule for working on the thing.

“Hey,” Marcus sighed as he finished hammering just another of the countless nails.  He was hesitant calling him John, considering both understood that was likely not his name.

“Hey, I uh…” John looked around the ranch.  “I feel like I might be intruding.”

“John, don’t worry about it.  My uncle is just… like that,” Marcus picked up a handful of nails.  He stuck three in between his lips as he hammered a fourth into the board.

“I’d be more than happy to help out.  You guys are being great and I really want to do something,” John smiled.  “I mean, you know, to earn my keep.”

            Marcus’s brow furrowed in thought.  His mind caught up with him and the dawning realization of just how much help John could be really hit him.  “You know anything about barns?”  The nails muddled Marcus’s words.

“Dunno,” John shrugged.  “Maybe I was a ranch hand.”

Marcus softly grasped John’s hand and inspected his palm.  “Doubt it,” he said as he held out his own calloused hand, new with blisters from the rediscovery of ranch work.

“Well, there’s plenty of room up here to learn new things,” John flashed a smile the made Marcus’s inside flip.

“You know you’re being really chill about this whole memory loss thing,” Marcus said handing John a second hammer from the toolbox.  He pointed to a small pencil dot that indicated where the next nail was to go.

“I figure it’ll come back.  For now I just feel happy, almost… stress free, maybe?”  John smiled again.  John hit the nail, with hardly enough force to pierce the wood.  Marcus chuckled.

“Here,” Marcus took John’s hand and guided it on a better, more direct trajectory.  “Like this.”  Marcus flushed bright red at their brief touch.  He cleared his throat and let go immediately. 

John smiled, questioning eyes roaming the Marcus’s expression.  Marcus couldn’t even be sure if John was gay, and if he were, would he even remember?

“Just hit it hard?”  John practiced the movement.

“Smack it.”

 

*~*~*

 

“Hey Jane,” Marcus whipped his sweat with his already soaking t-shirt.  His tone of voice indicated he’d likely been thinking of David.  At least Jane was a friend enough to know what was up.

“Hey buddy,” she poorly laid her best attempt at sweetly caring face.  “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, what is it?”

Jane surveyed her surroundings.  Far off she saw a smaller guy edging along the fence holding the small herd of buffalo in.  “That him?”

“Yep.  What’s up Jane?”

“Okay, there’s this student.  He’s missing…”

“Jane,” Marcus warned.

“Marcus,” Jane matched his tone.  “He’s missing and I was going through some police files…”

“And how did you get those?”

Jane chuckled, “I’ve picked up some… skills since you left.  Plus I’ve got a man on the inside.”

“So you’re a spy now?”

“I prefer the term hero.”

 

*~*~*

 

Shane awoke to a strange sound on the other side of the door.  He hadn’t so much awoken from sleep as he did leave a plane of consciousness that allowed him some semblance of an escape from the hell he was trapped in indefinitely. 

There was something happening beyond the door, in a world Shane had resigned to never seeing.  He felt his heart race again, the same pounding in his chest before each “session” with HIM. 

Shane’s breath thinned and he felt a whine escape his lips.  He was pretty sure he was crying.  He was beyond the humiliation of his weakness having completely overrun his mind and self.

Something big slammed against the other side of the door.  The sounds from the other side died down and silence overcame everything.  The kind of silence that felt louder than anything before. 

The door opened quicker than usual, maybe it was kicked, Shane was too far-gone to really know for sure.  He wasn’t even sure if he was still crying. 

“It’s okay Shane, it’s okay I’ve got you,” Shane couldn’t understand the words being said.  He could only cry and beat on the arm holding him. 

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” she whispered. 

A man dressed in a black uniform and bulletproof vest followed in with a large gun hanging on his shoulder.  “The rest of the compound is secure.”

“Thank you Fish.  We need paramedics, now.”

“Yes Sheriff!”

 

*~*~*

 

“Agent Monroe.”

“What happened?!”  The man in the dark suit asked as he slammed a fist on the desk holding the small television set.

“This small town has a dedicated sheriff,” the man sitting at the desk replied.  He pushed his crooked glasses further up his nose. 

Monroe grimaced, “Don’t I know it.  A different tactic then.”

“Perhaps closer to home?  Maybe the…” He paused before air quoting, “John Doe?”

Agent Monroe stared at him for a moment, processing the idea proposed.  “Get it done.”

           

*~*~*

 

“Let me get this straight,” Marcus shoveled a greasy fry into his mouth and continued.  “You are a high school English teacher that can hack into classified computer files?”

“You’d be surprised what some of these young students can do,” Jane chuckled.  “Truth is… I have someone to help.  He’d rather remain nameless now, but he’s the one who really has the skills and the in.  I tell him what I want to look into and he helps me out.”

“Oooo-kay.”  His hands danced above his fries as if wondering if finishing them would be worth his muscle definition.  “Anything in the files about how they got there first?”  He pushed the fries away, taking a few more for good measure.

“Not that he saw.  But Sheriff Moss is much more than a small town sheriff.  She may’ve grown up here, but I think we both know that she’s tougher than most.”

“Considering her family I don’t doubt it.”

Sheriff Moss’s family was intensely devout to their conservative religion that lived just outside of the town opposite of the Aquila Ranch.  It manifested in strict household training sessions in which their children would learn deadly fighting moves and perform intense exercise regimes, all run by their stubborn and vengeful patriarch. 

“Yeah… fuck,” Jane said exasperated.  “At least she’s ditched all that.”

“Well hello there,” a different voice interrupted the conversation.  It was one of those voices that was dense with playful mischief.  “If it isn’t Marcus Aquila!”

“Hey Garrett.”

“Muscle hunk returns to our little village,” Garrett drawled wiggling his eyebrows at Jane while pointing a thumb at Marcus. 

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck, Garrett’s charming smile had a bit of effect on everyone, except for the person sitting across from Marcus.  He blushed lightly before chuckling off Garrett’s playful flirting, which Marcus knew was the full extent.  Garrett was and never would be gay.

“Get.  Lost,” Jane sighed. 

Garrett flipped the empty chair in front of him and straddled it at the table.  “What y’all talking about?”

“None of your business.”

“Awww come on…”

“If you say beautiful, honey, babe, or anything other than Jane I will punch you in you fucking face and fuck your fucking charming smile.”

Marcus grinned.  He missed this. 

“Charming?”  Garrett cocked an eyebrow.

“UHHHH!”  Jane slammed her fists in frustration against the table.

The chirping of Marcus’s phone interrupted her reaction.

“Uncle?”

“Marcus!”

“Uncle, what’s wrong?”

“I came in from the back forty to find the house completely destroyed and John is gone.  The bastard has robbed us blind!”

Marcus was speechless for a moment trying to understand what his uncle was telling him.  It seemed impossible.  Garrett and Jane had sobered and impatiently awaited any sort of explanation.

“But…”

“The bastard has ROBBED us, Marcus!”

“What’s missing?”

“I… well I haven’t found anything yet.  Your room has also been invaded.  Perhaps you should come back.”

“I got to go guys, catch you later,” Marcus said leaping up from his seat at the table and leaving Jane and Garrett confused and worried.

 

*~*~*

 

“I… I just can’t believe he would do this…”

“Marcus, you didn’t know him.  None of us knew him.  He was a stranger and for all we know he was lying about his amnesia,” Gordon was annoyed yet cognizant of his nephew’s freshly opened wounds. 

Marcus frowned as he looked around the disheveled living room.  In the kitchen plates and glasses lay shattered on the floor.  The Aquila Ranch was not home to any significant wealth.  It was filled with humble heirlooms and tattered furniture.  The ranch really only made enough money to keep itself running, and that was on a good year, not like their current financial situation.  The home was modest, as modest as the small television Marcus had purchased with his allowance when he was a teenager working on the farm.  A television that was still in the living room.

“Wait…” Marcus’s brow furrowed.  “There’s nothing missing.”

“Well, I assume something is gone.”

“Like what, there’s nothing to take.”

“Marcus,” Gordon started as Marcus bounded up the stairs.  “What do you expect to find?”

Marcus ignored his uncle and stepped into the guest bedroom that they’d graciously allowed John Doe to stay in.  Like the rest of the house it had been turned upside down, however the door to this room had been nearly completely taken off the wall.  Someone had laid into it pretty damn hard to make it budge. 

“This door is broken,” Marcus said as his uncle slowly made his way to his nephew’s side.

“And?”

“Why would John have to break his own door down?”

Gordon stared silently, his faith in his initial assumption wavering.

Marcus made out a dark scratch descending on the wall behind the bed.  Marcus pulled the bed out from the wall with relative ease, the adrenaline in his system allowing his already substantial muscle mass to pull double duty.  Scratched crudely into the dark and aged cyan wall paint was a single word… HELP.

“Marcus,” Gordon breathed.  “What’s happened to John?”

 

_To be continued_ …

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

John Doe – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

 

 

 

Supporting Cast…

Bobby Schneider – Sterling Beaumon

Leonardo Ribeiro – Guilherme Lobo

Gabriel Alpednre – Fabio Audi

Sheriff Meredith Moss – Paget Brewster

Agent Monroe – David Anders

HIM – Philip Glass

Shane Spear – Chris Olivero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is borrowed from the hauntingly beautiful yet very minimal work "Glassworks" by Philip Glass... Haha. One of the "cast members" of today's episode.... I'm not very creative. Here is the Opening. It's gorgeous in its simplicity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDN8NzIGz-Y
> 
> Scenes from next week's episode "City of Glass"
> 
> Marcus and Jane must race against the clock to find and rescue John. John fights to stay alive, but in his kidnapping he gets more than he bargained for, in the form of information about himself that could prove to be horribly revealing.


	4. City of Glass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Episode 104:  “City of Glass”**

 

“What happened here?”  Martha exclaimed as she walked through the open front door.

Gordon rubbed his head in frustration, “Not sure yet.”

“Anything to go on?”  Martha pressured as she began to help pick up various items from the floor.  Gordon had created a pile of things that clearly could not be salvaged.  Martha found herself using that pile the most.

“How is John?”  Martha asked as she realized she wouldn’t get an answer to her previous question.

“Missing,” Gordon sighed.  “Martha, please, this is a bad time.”

“Gordon Aquila it’s bad enough for your back that you’ve been doing all your ranching without help.  Picking all this… this crap up is going to do more harm than good.”

“What about you?”  Gordon chuckled at Martha’s unusual forwardness.

“I have a few years on you in that department, let the young girl work,” she flashed that beautiful smile that Gordon had fallen irrevocably in love with.

 

*~*~*

 

“Esca Esca Esca…” the frail old man chuckled.  “Look at this mess you’ve gotten yourself into now.”

“Who are you?!”  John yelled  “My name’s not Esca!”

“It’s not?”  The man paused, “Then what is it my dear boy?”

“It’s… it’s…” John played with the name in his head.  The word “Esca” resounded in him with a familiar surge of understanding.  It was as if the first piece of his mental puzzle fell into place.  With his arms pulled sharply behind his back and his wrists fastened tightly a new and more terrifying thought came to mind.  “How do you know who I am?”

“The name’s Glass,” the man did a small bow as he arranged the various tools and knives on the table beside John’s chair.  “And you do not want to know how we know each other.  That much I KNOW is true.”

Glass’s hand danced over the metal instruments of torture before settling on a large scalpel.  “Let’s start with this, Esca.”

Esca’s mind accepted his new name’s return.  However the fear in his gut wrenched at the sight of the sharp instrument swaying through the air in the hand’s of Glass as it got closer to his body.

“What are you doing?”  Esca tried to hop his chair away to no avail.  It seemed the chair was bolted to the ground. 

Glass placed the cold metal against the right side of Esca’s chest.  He suspended the instrument for a moment before breaking skin and opening a red river flowing.

 

*~*~*

 

“Jane!  What are we going to do?”  Marcus paced in Jane’s apartment.  The building was the only apartment building in town and it was home to mostly young townspeople like Jane.  Marcus had just stormed in and blurted about John being missing.

“Marcus, take a deep breath.  You need to have a cool head before we can do anything.  Was their anything else there other than the message in the wall?”

Marcus tried to focus, shaking his head before he was actually sure that he hadn’t missed something.

“Okay, Sheriff Moss didn’t catch the guy when she rescued Shane.”

“We have to talk to Shane!” 

Jane grabbed Marcus’s shoulder, afraid he might run off.  Deep down she was also very nervous that her friend would shift in the middle of her living room.  She remembered what it was like in the beginning, it was hard to control those emotions that caused her body to turn into a hulking bear.

“Marcus, listen to me.  You… need… to… breathe,” Jane clenched his shoulder tighter, already feeling him calm a bit.  “I can ask my contact, he might be able to get us to Shane.  I’ll see if he can give us any other info too.”

Marcus nodded.

“Wait here, I’m going to go call him.”

Jane trusted that Marcus would wait, he’d cooled down enough to know that this was the best bet for them. 

“Hey, I need a favor.”

 

*~*~*

 

Jane quietly pushed the hospital room door open and ushered Marcus in.  Shane Spear was awake and wearing a confused look.  Jane felt her heart break as she noted the multitude of cuts and bandages covering Shane’s chest and face.  He was a beautiful kid, all-star in every way.  This would change him.  Jane’s single good thought was that if any student at her school could handle such trauma it’d be Shane… or possibly Bobby Schneider.

“Mrs. B?”  Shane croaked.

“Hey Shane,” Jane’s caring voice for once sounded sincere.  “How are you feeling?”

Shane shrugged, avoiding eye contact.  His gaze fell on Marcus who’d just come into view.

“Hi Shane,” Marcus shifted uncomfortably.

“Who are you?”

“This is my friend Marcus,” Jane interrupted.  “We need to ask you a few questions.”

“More questions?”  Shane was exasperated.

“The sheriff probably grilled you good, but we need to hear what happened from you.”

“Okay,” Shane was still obviously hesitant.

Jane expected that Shane would be suspicious; her only hope was that he remembered how good of a teacher she’d been the year before and that he’d trust her enough to give her the whole story.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because Shane, we want to help,” Jane soothed.  “I can’t tell you too much but he’s taken someone else.”

Shane seemed to be loosing the grip he’d been holding onto to keep from telling his story.  “I… I was just walking home from a buddies… it was dark.  There was this van and it came out of nowhere.  Before I know it I’ve got a bag over my head and they’re dragging me into that building.”

“The abandoned factory?”

Shane nodded.  “He tied me to a chair and made his men wait outside the door.  He… he…” Shane took a deep breath.

Jane placed a hand softly on Shane’s shin, which was covered by the thin, white hospital bed sheets.

“It was always dark and he always used a knife first.  He just kept cutting and cutting!”  Shane was getting worked up.

Marcus, who stood silently in the back of the room felt his pulse rising.  The fear of this young man was causing Marcus to wonder just what was happening to John. 

“This cut,” Shane said pointing to a long cut down his left cheek, “was the last one he made.  That was just before Sheriff Moss showed up.”

Jane eyed his hands as he placed them back under the sheets.  “What happened to your hands?”

Shane kept his mouth shut, returning to his stoic silence.

“Okay, thank you Shane,” Jane said rubbing his shin again.  “I am so sorry this happened to you.”

“Shit,” Jane breathed as they stepped out of the hospital room.

“Jane… that’s happening to John now!”  Marcus was obviously panicking still.

“We will stop him, Marcus,” Jane said grabbing his shoulder hard.  “Heroes, remember?”

 

*~*~*

 

The bell of the shop jingled as someone stepped in.  It was late on a Friday night, it was not very common to have people stop by at this time.

Tom looked around the appliance rack to see Garrett Moss heading towards him.  He shook his head, trying to quell his anger before Garrett said what he came to say.

“Tom,” Garrett nodded.

“What?”

Garrett’s usual charm was completely gone.  Lately, with these requests Garrett had found that his usual tricks didn’t help.  The two men had been friends for years and both knew the other’s smiles so well they didn’t have the emotional effect.

 “One more,” Garrett replied.

“No.”

“Tom, come on.”

“You’ve asked for one more too many times.”

“Tom,” Garrett sighed.  He didn’t want to do this.  “I’ll just… I’ll go to Bobby next.”

Tom’s face flamed crimson.  He slammed his huge fist against the desk, “You wouldn’t dare!”

“I need you or him,” Garrett shrugged.  “And he is always willing to help…”

Tom gritted his teeth.  His fist balled even tighter as it pressed against the desk.  Garrett wondered if it would break the desk in half if he made Tom any more pissed.

Tom looked around the store before agreeing.  “One more.”

 

*~*~*

 

“You have some luck picking the place and person you picked.”

Esca grunted in exhaustion.  He wanted to sleep, but the searing pain of the knife each time it punctured his skin kept Esca from blissful escape.

“I mean of all of those things in Benson, Texas you stumbled onto Marcus Aquila’s ranch.  That’s…” Glass hunted for the word.  “Poetic.”

Esca let out a high-pitched whine as the emotional and physical torture reached a peak. 

“Be careful of those feelings,” Glass traced a heart with the tip of his knife on Esca’s chest without breaking skin.  “They always get you into trouble.”

 

*~*~*

 

“The sun has set Jane!”

Jane rubbed her head in frustration. 

“He’s got to be torturing him by now.”

Jane paused in thought.  Shane had insinuated that the man only tortured in the dark.  Jane blocked out Marcus’s desperate pacing as she continued to work through her thought.  “He was only cutting him in the dark, but that last cut… it was just before Sheriff Moss found Shane.”

“And?”

“And she got to him at four in the afternoon, the sun had been up for a quite a while.”

“So?”

“So this guy must only work in windowless places so he can cut in the dark?”

Marcus felt it was a stretch, but it was all they had to go on.  “Other than the factory what other places are windowless?”

“The school…”

Marcus was doubtful.  “Don’t the classrooms have windows?”

Jane shook her head, “Not the photo developing lab.  And Esca was kidnapped on a Friday afternoon, the school will be empty until Monday morning.”

She was on to something.  “Let’s go!”

 

*~*~*

 

Jane led Marcus to the back of the school.  Marcus pulled his t-shirt over his head and unbuttoned his jeans pulling them down with his boxers in a single movement.  He shifted into the mountain lion. 

Jane stepped up beside him in her bear form, ready.  _Marcus, we can do this._

Marcus nodded in return before bounding up the steps and bursting through the school doors.

Marcus halted in the dark and completely empty hallway.  _There’s no one here._

_Yes there is_.  Jane looked around, still no sound.  _Use your other senses_.

Marcus closed his eyes for a moment and put his trust in the other senses.  There definitely were people ahead of them.  Marcus couldn’t tell if it was smell or taste, but some natural reaction to the men in the room acted like sonar and Marcus new that danger lay ahead of them.

As if on cue the first bullet fired.  Marcus in his exploratory battles with Jane had found that his reflexes were significantly heightened when he was a lion.  However in this situation, in which the feeling of safe play was nil Marcus’s senses and reflexes were on a completely different plane.  It was as if he pounced in slow motion, taking in the bullet paths as the zipped by.

He could follow the bullets trail to the source, a man ducking behind a set of lockers to the side of the hall.  Jane was further ahead disarming and knocking out another soldier. 

Two others spilled out in their way towards the lab.  The men were dress in all black with only a single upward facing, brown triangle on their right shoulder. 

_Marcus STOP!_   Jane had turned a corner into a large locker bay before Marcus had gotten the chance.  However her message came a second too late as Marcus rounded the corner and faced six men with guns aimed at him.  Another four surrounded Jane, leaving both without a chance of attack or escape.

_What do we do?_   Marcus hoped his helplessness didn’t show on the snout of his lion form.  He let out a growl for good measure as he circled around to the opposite side of the locker bay, allowing the opportunity for an attack from two sides.

Marcus traced fight paths in his head.  Most left him with one or two soldiers, which was enough to spell despair for both he and Jane.  Before he got the opportunity to calculate any more another giant form entered the bay. 

It was another black bear, bigger than Jane.  The bear took out a soldier allowing Marcus to react quickly and take down the others.  It seemed this bear shared a similar distaste to killing as Jane and Marcus, exampled by the unconscious soldiers. 

_Go!_   Jane ordered.  Marcus didn’t question her as he made his way towards the lab.  Signs on the wall pointed to a room as he closed in.  Two soldiers appeared in front of him causing him to screech to a halt as another two closed in behind. 

Marcus ran through a single scenario before another figure took down the two soldiers behind him.  Marcus swiped the soldiers in front, a single bullet scraping by his right front leg.  Marcus bit back the sound of pain before turning to face his savior. 

Expecting to see either of the black bears, he was shocked to face a huge wolf standing proudly over two unconscious soldiers.  Marcus stared for a moment, before deciding saving John was his priority. 

He turned and slammed through the doors of the lab.  The room was nearly pitch black except for a single red light on the left wall, casting a dark aura.  Marcus surveyed the room with his sight and combined smelling and tasting senses.  It was empty apart from an unconscious John in the center of the room.

Marcus shifted back to his human form as he ran up to John’s side.  With John unconscious Marcus did not mind his nakedness or public shifting. 

John’s body was littered with skin-deep cuts and punctures.  From Marcus’s unprofessional point of view the wounds were mostly not too serious.  However a few gashes seemed deeper than others.  Marcus felt John’s neck, a weak but present pulse beat against his fingers.  Marcus began to untie John before looking up at the wall with the red light cast on it.  Written in what could only be John’s blood was a single, terrifying message:

_WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE_

Marcus left John’s side for a moment to rub the message out, smearing the words into a single painted cloud of red.

Marcus turned to find Jane, in human form, standing in the doorway holding his clothes in her hands. 

“‘We know what you are’?”  She said handing him his clothes and ignoring his nudity.

Marcus ignored what he could not answer, “Who were those two?”

“Two?  You mean the other bear?”  Jane was confused.  “Was there another bear?”

“The wolf…” Marcus said as he finished pulling his clothes on and went back to tend to John.

“Wolf?”  Jane looked worried.  “No fucking idea.”

 

*~*~*

 

Esca awoke with a start, wondering for the briefest moment if those hours of horror had been only a nightmare tied to a distant memory.  The sharp pain of the cuts beneath his white-turned-copper gauze wrappings alerted him that it had been very real.  He shifted slowly, easing his bones and muscles to do his bidding.  The hospital room could’ve been the same he’d awoken in before, however he wasn’t sure.

A figure was slumped on a chair to his right in the darker part of the room.  Esca hissed with pain as a new cut on his back rubbed against the sheets in the worst way possible.  The figure jerked out of the uncomfortable slumber at Esca’s hiss.

“JD?”  Marcus said rushing to Esca’s side.  “You up?”

“JD?”  Esca barely whispered, his lungs and vocal chords getting used to functioning again rather than simply screaming in pain at Glass’s exploratory torture techniques.

“John Doe,” Marcus shrugged.  “Figured it had a little more character.”

Esca swallowed, knowing that he couldn’t keep his single returned memory from Marcus for long.  “My name is Esca, actually.”

Marcus brightened as much as one could brighten in their present situation.  “Really?  Esca?  What else do you remember?”

“Nothing.  Nothing yet at least.”

“Esca,” Marcus tested the name on his lips.  “I like that.”  Marcus flashed a rare smile.  The gesture warmed the two men as they sat in comfortable silence in the dark hospital room.  No amount of conversation could make what had happened to Esca okay, but Marcus’s presence helped slightly to ease Esca into the unforeseen future.

 

*~*~*

 

“At this rate you’ll finish the barn in three years,” Jane said as she approached Marcus who was busy nailing the final placement board into the outer wall of the barn.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Marcus groaned.  He’d spent all night in the hospital with Esca before returning the ranch early in the morning to get some work done on the barn.  Jane had clearly been stopping by before she headed to the school.  “Are there going to be bodies all over the school?”

Jane had to chuckle.  “No.  My contact took care of a lot of the details.  He said the men were all gone by the time he got there.  Quite a cleanup crew if you ask me.”

“Well at least Esca is safe.  John’s name by the way, he had a memory.”

“No matter how safe he is we still have a lot of questions, Marcus,” Jane warned.  “We need to find out who that bear and wolf are.  And if this horrible man with this substantial private army knows what we are he may know them too.  We may need them if they continue to give us trouble.  Who knows who they’ll go after next.”

“We’re going to have to stop them.”

Jane placed a hand on Marcus’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry.  We will.”

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

Esca – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

  

 

Supporting Cast…

Sheriff Meredith Moss – Paget Brewster

Glass – Philip Glass

Shane Spear – Chris Olivero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this episode is derived from a WEIRD ASS PIECE. Technically this is jazz. It's awesome and crazy. But for most people (including most musicians) it's just too much to take and they usually give up. Will you?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz7UO5l-iAU
> 
> Scenes from next week's episode "Aquarium":
> 
> Two of Benson's newest inhabitants Marcus and Oliver relive their past in very different ways. Flashbacks bring about new mysteries and haunting truths. The two men find themselves in different yet equally intense situations. Esca struggles with his recuperation and finds solace in Marcus.


	5. Aquarium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Episode 105** **“Aquarium”**

 

_“Hey babe,” the sultry voice stirred Marcus from his sleep.  His schedule revolved around a nearly nocturnal lifestyle and this awakening was a sign that it was around five o’clock.  Two legs straddled his hips nudging and guiding his body to face up so that he could bend down and kiss Marcus._

_“David,” Marcus groaned with groggy arousal, his voice raspy and deep._

_“Made you something,” David teased._

_“Yeah?”  Marcus raised an eyebrow.  The two had been dating for nearly four years and living together for one and a half.  Gifts were a regular occurrence with David.  He was always so happy to provide for Marcus, who tried to pull his weight, but often fell short as one would expect from the proverbial small-town-boy in a big city._

_David leapt from the bed and smacked the spacebar on his laptop, which sat on the desk by their bed.  The studio apartment didn’t allow for much room, but they used every square foot._

_High chords strummed on a guitar began to beat in rhythm creating an air of quiet happiness.  David’s voice entered next.  Singing with delicacy and care his voice carried the first verse over the lightly strummed guitar._

            “Wise men said,

            Only fools rush in,

            But I can’t help,

            Falling in love with you…”

_Marcus didn’t need to hear past those lines before he pulled the love of his life back into bed with him and began to kiss, with needy kisses._

_“I love you,” Marcus said before pulling David in for another kiss.  He slowly pulled back and opened his eyes.  David no longer sat in front of him, instead Esca stared intently back with a punch-drunk expression._

Marcus awoke with a start.  His back ached as he stretched.  He’d fallen asleep against the barn.  Long nights with Esca at the hospital had become a habit and his sleep had suffered.  Random catnaps had begun to suffice for briefs cures of exhaustion.  Marcus grabbed his tools and headed in, ready to begin working on the interior of the barn preparing for winter in two months.

Marcus buried David just over a month ago and he was already having wet dreams for a man he’d only just met.  Marcus wanted to fight it, but he knew no matter what form he was intensely attracted to that man who was recuperating in that hospital bed.  Marcus prayed that David, who he knew was looking down on him, allowed it.  All things considered he assumed David would approve.

 

*~*~*

 

Benson, Texas…  Home of just over four thousand people, is a humble town outside of the great Texan city of Dallas.  People in the town go about their business in their own special way, but this small, quiet town has always been a haven for the hurt and lost.  At every street corner, in every home, even in the local high school there are people everywhere who have experienced heartbreaking loss and sadness.

Benson was built for those to escape and to rebuild.  Without it some of these lost souls may never have found themselves.  Sadly even the homegrown “Bensonites” were not strangers to that crippling sadness and loss.  However the quiet town keeps running and people carry on for another day.

 

*~*~*

 

“Morning Deputy Fish,” Billy Gallagher said sleepily, obviously the early morning shift at the Benson Diner was not his first choice of scheduling.  “What can I get you?”

“Coffee… to go,” Oliver smiled.  His new home had in the last year finally began to slowly feel like a welcoming place. 

“Morning Deputy Fish,” Tom Schneider said from his diner barstool, nodding and holding his own cup in gesture.

“Morning Mr. Schneider.  Please call me Oliver.”

“All right Oliver, then it’s Tom to you,” Tom smiled.  Oliver chuckled, being thirty-one he was only about three years older than Tom, yet their pleasantries felt like they were fifty-year-old businessmen.

Oliver felt that familiar melting sensation at Tom’s smile.  The legend of that flash of pearly whites had reached even such a new resident such as Oliver.

“You taking the morning shift at the hardware store?”

“All day shift,” Tom groaned.  “I gave my mom the day off.  Figured she deserved it.”

“Wow,” Oliver laughed.  “She lucked out in the son department.”

“Let her know that when you see her next!”

“Haha, will do!”

Billy handed Oliver his coffee in its to-go container, however Oliver had a few spare minutes and had made himself at home on the barstool beside Tom.

“How come you moved here?”  Tom asked taking another sip of his coffee.

Oliver shrugged, he was used to the question.  “Needed a change of scenery,” and he’d become used to avoiding giving a straight answer as well.  For such a public figure, Oliver had always been a bit of a mystery to many members of the Benson community.

“How’s Bobby?”  Oliver changed the subject.

Tom’s smile was never brighter than when he talked about his younger brother.  Tom began to ramble about all of Bobby’s recent accomplishments at the local high school and even mentioned that he’d befriended the Brazilian exchange students who’d recent joined the high school’s roster.  Oliver knew of the two boys, he’d been told to keep an eye out for them just in case they ran into any trouble.

After nearly ten minutes of Tom doting on his little brother Oliver stood from his stool.  “If I don’t leave now I’m going to be late to the station.”  He threw down two dollars for tip for the still nearly asleep Billy behind the counter.

“Aww!  I’m sorry here I am going on and on about Bobby and you even got a to-go cup.”

“No worries Tom,” Oliver smiled a little wider.  “It was nice talking, I enjoyed it.”

“Me too,” Tom’s smile faltered a bit.

“I’d like to talk more some time,” Oliver nodded feeling a strange sensation, as if he was betraying his last love by just suggesting that he and Tom talk more.

“I’d like that too.”

Oliver couldn’t explain it, but with Tom he just felt that _Birds of a Feather_ vibe.

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus had come to call this hospital home far too many times in the last month.  He hoped that Esca would finally be discharged today, but there still could be a few more days on his stay.

He stepped into Esca’s room.  The man was asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly and rhythmically.  Marcus sighed quietly, the man was stunningly beautiful, a fact that had not escaped him in the week he’d been visiting. 

Dr. Shepherd past by the room’s lone window to the hospital hallway.  Marcus snuck back out quickly to catch her.

“Hey Dr. Shepherd, how much longer will Esca have to stay here?”

She sighed, Esca had allowed Marcus and Gordon to be privy to his file, however she still felt like she was breaking her oath somehow.  “I’ll have to talk to Esca today.  Probably as early as tomorrow, I think one more day will be enough.”

Marcus smiled warily.  

“Will he be returning to the Aquila Ranch?”

Marcus nodded, “I spoke with my uncle, he thinks it’s best for a little while at least.”

“Marcus,” Dr. Shepherd rubbed her forehead.  “Esca will have trouble once he’s discharged.  He obviously has a fair amount of mental trauma, which is dormant, while in the confined space of the hospital.  When he’s back at the ranch, which if I’m not mistaken is where he was kidnapped from, he’ll likely reawaken those fears and have difficulty adjusting.”

“What are you saying?”  Marcus’s worry plain.  “That he shouldn’t come back with us to the ranch?”

“Not at all, in fact I think you and Gordon are probably the best option for someone to care for him, it’s just a warning.  It won’t be easy.”

“Any suggestions?”

“A dog?”  Dr. Shepherd shrugged.  “The Spears just got one to help Shane, and he is apparently showing marked improvement.”

Marcus nodded, he wondered how Esca would feel about a pet mountain lion.

“Hey, you!”  Esca called weakly from in the room. 

“Hey Esca,” Marcus said jumping back into the room.  Esca had grown weary of Marcus’s sympathetic tone, but Marcus still couldn’t seem to suppress enough.  “Any developments?”

Esca sighed, defeated.  “Not yet.”  Esca’s memories had only been triggered by Glass’s words and now Esca felt almost as lost as before with the exception being he finally knew his name.  The first name at least.

 

*~*~*

 

_“Hey you,” Oliver slurred._

_Kyle Lewis cocked an eyebrow at his fellow fraternity brother.  They hadn’t spoken once in the whole semester and now in a drunken stupor, the hunk of a frat bro was leaning on him with his considerable weight._

_“Hey Oliver,” Kyle chuckled in his trademark raspy tone.  “I think you may have had a little too much.”_

_“Too much fun!”  Oliver laughed and hiccupped._

_“Why don’t we get you to bed?”_

_Somehow Kyle managed to lug Oliver bag to his dorm which coincidentally was the same one Kyle lived in.  At Oliver’s door Kyle knocked in hopes of a roommate being in and able to help Oliver the rest of the way._

_No such luck._

_“Front pocket,” Oliver whispered.  If Kyle were an optimistic person he would’ve guessed that Oliver had whispered seductively._

_Kyle snuck his fingers into the straight-legged jeans and managed to grab the keys with ease.  He eased Oliver into the bed that his drunken companion had leaned towards.  Oliver’s roommate had decked his side of the room with posters of bands and album covers.  Oliver’s side was crisp and clean to the point of sterile.  Not a single poster hung on his walls and only a framed photo of Oliver and his parents sat on his bedside table._

_“Hey Kyle,” Oliver said as Kyle lifted the polo off, his head getting stuck for a brief moment._

_“Yes Oliver?”_

_“I always wanted to talk to you.”  Kyle slid Oliver’s jeans off leaving him in an undershirt and boxers._

_“Is that so?”  Kyle grabbed a cup on Oliver’s desk and filled it with water from their sink in their room._

_“You are so cool, so chill,” Oliver drunkenly danced on his sheets.  “And you’re gay.”_

_“I am,” Kyle chuckled placing the cup on the bedside table._

_“How do you do it?”  Oliver almost whined.  “How do you not care what others think?”_

_Kyle made eye contact with Oliver before replying, “I just mmphm…”_

_Oliver interrupted Kyle with his lips pressed against the sober man’s in a hard kiss of passion and desperation._

“Fish!”  Sheriff Moss almost laughed.

Oliver jumped up, his head had been resting on his desk and he’d apparently even drooled a little, man he needed more sleep.  “Sorry ma’am.”

“Haha, no worries.  It’s been quite a month for you,” Meredith replied knowing full well that she too had been apart of it all.  The town had seen a spike in crazy that only seemed to come around once a generation.  She knew from her past that this wouldn’t be the last of it.

“Won’t happen again,” Oliver replied nervously.

“Why don’t you take a double lunch?”  Meredith replied knowing that no matter how much she tried to make Fish sleeping on the job not a big deal he’d still feel horrible.  “That’s an order.”

Oliver smiled.  “Yes ma’am.”

Oliver had meant to go to the diner, he really had.  However he found himself open the door to Schneider’s Hardware, realizing that there was no turning back as the chimes’ high-pitched clangs announced his entrance.

“Deputy Fish?”  Tom looked up from a farming magazine, confused.

“Oh uh, hi,” Oliver waved weakly as he approached, “Hey Tom.”

“Can I help you with something?”  Tom laughed a little, it just seemed so strange to see Oliver in the hardware store.  He lived in the housing development on the opposite side of town from the farms.  There was an Ace Hardware closer to his house and likely a bit cheaper.

“Umm,” Oliver looked around for an excuse but his mind couldn’t seem to function.  “Honestly?  I was just dropping by to say hi… I uh… I have a double lunch today.”  Then Oliver remembered that Tom had mentioned he’d be working all day.  “Are you hungry?  Can I grab you something?”

Tom beamed, “Actually that would be amazing.  I forgot my lunch today and the only other break I’ll get is the twenty minute break when Bobby gets home from school.”

Ten minutes later Oliver and Tom huddled around take-out from the diner that they’d spread across the counter.  Oliver found it easy to talk to Tom, however he felt Tom resisting at times, especially whenever they’d get close, or talk about something personal.  Oliver remembered those days.  If Tom was gay, he definitely wasn’t out.  That was _not_ what Oliver needed right now.

“Would you uh…. Want to get drinks tonight?”  Tom asked.  He remembered asking Marcus the same question a month ago and flushed at the thought.

Oliver was surprised by the question, assuming it carried with it the same connotations he was thinking.  As he thought about it his answer for the briefest moment, he caught sight of a brown paper bag under the sales counter with an un-opened coke sitting next to it.  Tom’s lunch.  Tom’s lunch that he’d supposed forgotten.

Oliver felt horrible, he wanted to get drinks with Tom more than anything, but he knew he couldn’t.  She would need him at home tonight and he didn’t want to leave her.

“Sorry,” Oliver mumbled.  “Can’t.”

Tom waited for a beat, as if Oliver was going to specify why.  When nothing came he shrugged.  “That’s fine.  I understand.”  But deep down, that gentle giant was pretty down.

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus slammed that hammer harder than necessary.  It was one of those days.  Sometimes Marcus thought of the David that sung to him and surprised him.  Sometimes Marcus thought about that pain of loosing David.  Sometimes he thought of what had happened…

_“Marcus,” David couldn’t hold eye contact.  Their apartment was eerily cold and Marcus felt as though everything would be better if David would simply hold him.  It wasn’t often Marcus was the needy one, being that he was much bigger than David, but sometimes he just wanted it._

_David wouldn’t hold him.  Not today.  David had said they needed to talk.  “Marcus… I…” He shuffled his foot.  “I don’t know how to tell you this.”_

_“Whatever it is, it’s okay.  I love you babe,” Marcus reached but David shied away again._

_“I cheated.”_

_Marcus felt the wind escape his lungs.  He felt like someone was sitting on his chest.  He never imagined being so dramatically floored, even after seven years of loving David so unconditionally.  But this was something serious.  It was something Marcus knew was a deal breaker for both men.  He just never imagined it happening._

_“You what?”_

_“I just… It just happened.”_

_Marcus took a breath in an effort to calm himself.  A feat made difficult by his near inability to breath._

_“I’m sorry.”_

_The words were clear.  They were an apology.  But almost as clear as if he’d said the word, they were a goodbye._

…And sometimes, recently, though not often, Marcus thought of Esca.

 

*~*~*

 

Tom danced nervously.  He couldn’t believe he’d just knocked on the door.  The thought of ditching invaded his instincts, but his feet became firmly planted on the front step.  Despite being turned down, Tom had decided that buying a six-pack and dropping by Oliver’s house was a totally normal thing.

The door swung open and Tom stared forward, but Oliver was nowhere to be seen. 

“Hello?”  A slightly annoyed and definitely sassy voice asked.  Tom’s eyes fell to the ground.  A tiny blond girl stood in the doorway, her hip pushed out with a hand firmly planted on it, the other holding the door.

“Uh…” Tom stuttered.  “I think I have the wrong house.”

“Who are you looking for?”  She pressured.

Damn this girl was intense.  Tom almost laughed at how much larger her personality was compared to her stature.

“Oliver Fish?”

“DAD!  It’s for you,” She shouted skipping off.

Oliver peaked his head in from the kitchen down the hall.  His face lit with a smile before morphing into confusion.  “Tom?”

Tom shuffled more nervous than ever.  This was really bad now.  Tom tried to remember if he’d seen a wedding ring.  “Hey,” he croaked.

Oliver stepped out of the kitchen and walked down the hall.  Tom snorted at the pink and white apron, which upon closer inspection revealed that the dashes of pink were actually small cupcakes.

Oliver laughed looking down at it, “The little one picked this one out.  She has a matching one.”

“I’m so sorry,” Tom said, handing Oliver the six-pack anyways.  “I didn’t realize you were…. Married.”

Oliver laughed.  “I’m not.  Sierra’s mother and I were never married, but I’m all that she has left.”  Oliver accepted the beer.  “You want to join us?  There’s plenty of food.”

“Oh… uh… no that’s all right.”

“Please have dinner,” Sierra said from the kitchen, without looking at Tom.  Instead she kept rolling dough, her own apron dusted with flour.  “My daddy can be really boring.”

Oliver and Tom both laughed.  “She’s something else,” Oliver said beaming with pride.  “A forty-year-old trapped in a six-year-old body.”

“I don’t think I can turn her down now,” Tom chuckled stepping inside.  He’d closed the shop at eight and had assumed Oliver would have eaten by now. 

An hour later Oliver came down the step of his home quietly and joined Tom at the couch, a Monday-night football game in progress.  “Sorry about that.  Been a crazy day.  Sierra and I tried setting up a Princess Palace in the backyard and totally lost track of time.  Hence the late dinner.”

“And the Palace?”  Tom asked almost guessing the answer.

“Still in shambles….” Oliver buried his head in his hand. 

Tom chuckled.  “Maybe I can help?”  He took a swig of his beer.  “I’m good with tools.”

Oliver wanted to laugh at the innuendo, but figured gratitude would be more fitting.  “We’d both love that.”

Tom nervously fiddled with his beer, the bottle long since drained, provided his hands with a condensation-soaked label which he peeled and repressed against the bottle in a repetitive metronome.

Oliver stared that the beautiful man, wanting more than anything to just kiss him.  A familiar, raspy voice actually egged him on, but he’d frozen in place.  His consciousness granted permission but his subconscious had a different agenda.  His lust winning out Oliver slowly invaded Tom’s space. 

Tom did not move, as the police office got closer, instead he turned his face and looked into Oliver’s eyes.  He stared as their lips closed in on each other, teasing and nearly touching.  Electricity built, ready to discharge at contact.

Tom leapt from the couch faster than both he and Oliver thought possible.  An empty bottle, earlier drained clanged on the hardwood and Tom straightened his shirt while briskly walking to the door.

“I have to go!  Sorry,” Tom managed before shutting the door behind him and nearly running to his truck.

Oliver rubbed his lips, the lack of a kiss made him pent up with excitement and no plausible release.  “Well shit,” he chuckled under his breath.  “How’s that for your first time trying to get back on the ole horse?”

 

*~*~*

 

Esca awoke from another violent nightmare.  He was beginning to think he’d never have a goodnight’s sleep again.  The room was dark and empty, there was always a fifty/fifty chance that Marcus would be there waiting.  It was always a let down when he wasn’t there, but Esca understood.

Esca spent his time alone mulling over the man…. Glass.  How did he know who Esca was?  What else did he know?  What did this all mean?

Esca had been informed that Glass had in fact gotten away again.  This did not help his fears or his sleep.  Knowing Glass was out there was enough to keep Esca from more than two or three hours of sleep at a time.

“Esca?”  Dr. Shepherd rapped on the room door softly.

“Yes, Dr. Shepherd?”  Esca’s accent an ever-present reminder that his situation was an unsolvable enigma.

“How are you feeling?  Physically I mean,” Dr. Shepherd said pulling out a manila folder, prepared to take notes.

“Better, I think the cuts are good,” Esca shrugged.  Wasn’t she the doctor?

“Good,” Dr. Shepherd answered, her tone clear that his physically health was not in fact what she was after.  “And sleep?”

Esca just shook his head.

“Benson is a wonderful town, but it just doesn’t have the facilities to sufficiently handle your case,” Dr. Shepherd sighed, she clearly hated not being able to help.  “There are two options on the table…”

Esca nodded at the long pause, ready to digest what she suggested.

“The first would be to transfer you to Dallas Regional or Dallas Memorial…” Esca felt his pulse race at the thought of being in a huge city where people like Glass could hide much easier.  Despite the fact that the attack happened right here in Benson, something about this town made Esca feel safe.

“Hey,” Marcus said barging into the room.  “How you doing?”  Marcus was still sweaty from work, a little character flaw he seemed to not be used to was showering before heading over to see Esca.  He seemed to always notice his less-than-clean state while at Esca’s bedside every time.

“Are you okay with Mr. Aquila hearing this?”  Dr. Shepherd, always careful.

Esca nodded.  “The second?”  He didn’t need Dr. Shepherd to repeat the first, he was pretty sure he’d pick this second option.

“Stay in Benson.  There is a doctor from Dallas Regional who has heard about your case and is quite interested in providing psychiatric care, free of charge.”

“That one,” Esca nodded.

“What is this?”  Marcus was confused and he’d just noticed how sweaty he was and was beginning to look self-conscious.

“Esca, I need you to think about this.  With option one you’d have a wide variety of psychiatric care possibilities.  This is an intensely personal form of medicine and you need to be with someone who you can learn to trust.”

Esca stared at Marcus while he answered.  “I trust this town, that’s what matters.  I’ll be fine with the mystery doctor.”

Marcus just stared back, still confused.

“I’ll send for him.  He was very keen on starting early so you’ll likely hear from him soon.”

Dr. Shepherd bowed a little before leaving the two men alone in the room.  She was not homophobic by any means, just intensely professional, and this odd situation of having a man with no discernable past or family created an enigma of a case that made professionalism and the Hippocratic Oath a blurry line.  Dr. Shepherd hated blurry lines.

Marcus felt the weight of the day’s bad memories weighing him down.  However news of psych help for Esca was definitely a step in the right direction.  Marcus understood the necessity for the help and the gravity of the situation Esca was in.  The thought of a dog reemerged and Marcus had to smile at the thought of his uncle’s reaction.  Everything about that spelled disaster.

“You okay?”  Esca asked, as if he weren’t going through a horrifying trial of his own.

“Yeah,” Marcus shook off the comment.  “Sorry I’m not exactly… clean.”

Esca smiled.  “It’s all right.  You look… good,” Esca wiggled his eyebrows at Marcus’s tight, gray shirt that clung to his chest and stomach, leaving practically nothing up to the imagination.

Marcus blushed, in his mind he still questioned Esca’s sexuality, if he could even know his sexuality in his current situation.  Marcus knelt beside Esca’s bed, a little closer than in the past.

“Thank you, Marcus,” Esca said staring into Marcus’s eyes, making Marcus afraid to blink.

“For what?”

Esca thought for a moment.  “For being here for me, when you don’t even know me.”

“I know enough,” Marcus replied, their lip inching towards each other, neither party entirely sure of who was controlling the movement, like some other-worldly gay Ouija kissing game.

Marcus could not have prepared himself for the shock of pleasure that was Esca’s lips.  Esca’s lips were warm and inviting, daring Marcus to deepen this incredible lock.  Marcus was too frightened to push anything, however.  The idea that Esca was as fragile mentally and physically as he was prevented Marcus from delving further.  Instead he backed off, separating their mouths and causing a slight moan of desperation, neither man knowing for sure who made it.

“It’s okay,” Esca whispered.

“I know.”  Marcus stood and walked out of the room, not looking back.  Even with his sudden exit, Esca was not at all deterred, he would kiss Marcus again.

 

*~*~*

 

Sierra’s fragile breath as she slept captivated Oliver’s attention.  He remembered at her birth that she’d been diagnosed with a heart defect that required immediate surgery.  The terror he felt was unlike anything he’d ever known.  The thought of loosing her so soon made Oliver quiver.

Oliver liked to stand in her doorway and watch his girl sleep, her pink covers pulled up to her chin, a small night-light casting just enough of a glow to illuminate her peaceful expression.

_Sierra had been asleep in her car seat as Oliver drove.  Stepping out of the car he didn’t want to wake her, but he felt he should.  Luckily as he opened her door, her eyes opened and she woke._

_They walked with the others over the green grass in a procession of tears, black-clad attendees mourning loss._

_She shouldn’t have to feel this loss.  That was what killed Oliver the most.  The one and only true love Oliver had ever known, his death far too premature, caused wracking pangs of sadness and depression, only heightened by the over-arching understanding that Sierra may never remember Kyle.  Not really._

_He’d keep Kyle’s memory alive by mentioning his name every day to her.  Sierra walked unsteadily over the uneven ground.  As they formed a circle around the casket, ready to descend, Sierra squeezed Oliver’s hand.  She was here.  She knew.  She remembered him now and she understood.  Three years old and Sierra Rose comforted her father at the death of the only other person she’d ever been able to call a parent._

_Sierra would grow up far too fast.  Oliver wondered if moving would help slow the process and keep his daughter a child for a little while longer._

 

*~*~*

 

_They walked with the others over the green grass in a procession of tears, black-clad attendees mourning loss._

_Marcus held his head to the ground.  Thought’s rushing through his head.  Why couldn’t David have just lied for one more week?  His aforementioned tryst complicated his death.  Such a simple thing the loss of life…. Complication was in the love during._

_Most of the mourners at David’s funeral were familiar to Marcus.  He wasn’t so much friends with them as just knew them, but they were treating him like the oldest of pals, ready for comfort if he needed it._

_Marcus was bigger but David had been stronger.  Marcus couldn’t understand, after seven years of blissful happiness, in the span of one week all went dark.  Marcus hadn’t thought about what this meant.  He hadn’t thought about the fact that he wouldn’t be able to afford his Dallas apartment.  He hadn’t thought about the fact that he would have to move back to Benson, Texas.  And he surely hadn’t thought about the fact that he would ever meet someone else._

_It was Marcus’s turn in this portion of the funeral to throw a handful of dirt into the grave.  Other’s followed suit, their somber and dark expressions matching their dress.  Across the open grave was a man that at the time Marcus didn’t recognize.  He wouldn’t recognize him until the man collapsed at the end of his driveway in Benson, Texas weeks later.  A man he would kiss in a hospital room after having saved his life._

_Esca stood across the open grave, his own somber expression cast down into the grave as he let loose his own handful of dirt, softly patting the wood sitting inside the grave._

Marcus’s eyes shot open.  His breath raced as he tried to get his bearings.  He was in his room.  It was a dream.  But he knew… he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing had been different about that memory.  Esca had been at David’s funeral.  Esca had cast a handful of dirt into that grave.  Esca had known David Longmore, the love of Marcus Aquila’s life.

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

Esca – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

 

 

 

Supporting Cast…

Sierra Rose Fish – Elsie Kate Fisher

Billy Gallagher – Kyle Gallner

Sheriff Meredith Moss – Paget Brewster

Dr. Linda Shepherd – Radha Mitchell

David Longmore – Van Hansis

Kyle Lewis – Brett Claywell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this episode is derived from two different pieces actually. One (and much more well known is Camille Saint-Sean's work "The Carnival of Animals" in which this is a hauntingly beautiful version. The other is a band piece by a composer from the Netherlands. It's equally beautiful in it's own way. PS: If I ever get my two Alaskan Malamutes I have dreamt of all my life, I'd name them Camille and Saint after that composer!
> 
> Saint Seans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I33R3woDeFs
> 
> de Meij: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xP15bZBLRs
> 
> Scenes from next week's episode "Augurs":
> 
> A mysterious man hunts and haunts Marcus at night. With the startling revelations of the week past, Marcus must try and contain the unsettling thoughts running rampant in his mind while being ever careful to keep his secret and himself safe. Esca begins his therapy with a psychologist that has a very deft ability for hypnosis... Esca may be on the way to learning who he is... or at least was.


	6. Augurs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Episode 106 “Augurs”**

 

The brown leather shoes, with their hard heels, clipped and clopped in a steady, nearly hurried tempo, the white doctor’s coat flowing behind. 

He looked down at the file in hand.  ESCA.  Didn’t have much more than that.  He didn’t need it.

His pace faltered a bit as he closed the file back up and nearly missed a young nurse who also had not been paying attention.  As he rounded a corner he found who he’d been looking for.

“Dr. Linda Shepherd?”  He asked in his charming British accent, outstretching a hand.  “I’m the psychologist from Dallas Regional.  For Esca.”

“Ahh yes,” Linda replied shaking his hand.  “He was discharged just over an hour ago.  I have an address here where he can be found.”

“Cheers,” he smiled.

“We’ll need to have a name tag made for you while you do your temporary residency.  How should the name read?”

He nodded.  “Dr. John Watson.”

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus’s home was a hotbed a horrible memories.  A minefield of triggers that at any moment could set Esca’s mind ablaze with the recurring nightmare that was his kidnapping, imprisonment, and torture.  But having Marcus by his side, all six plus feet and muscle on muscle helped Esca to breath easier. 

As the two stepped up the patio, still in disrepair, Marcus slowed, obviously concerned for Esca’s wellbeing, both mental and physical.  His time at the hospital had helped him recuperate, and Esca had gone through intensive physical therapy, but it wasn’t over yet, but at least the hardest seemed to be over.  Only a slight limp really showed when Esca walked, however he still couldn’t walk too fast, or the healing sprains from the kidnapping would flare in pain.

“You okay?”  Marcus asked, pausing before the door, as if to say Esca could turn back whenever.

Esca nodded.

The door swung open and Marcus waited for Esca to step in first.  Esca entered the house and looked around.  It seemed different than before.  Cleaner.  Esca remembered the huge fight he’d put up when he was being kidnapped, Marcus and Gordon had likely had quite a mess to clean up.  It seemed that such a motivation sparked them into organizing the house, which likely hadn’t happened in years.  Esca wondered when a woman last had a hand in the household.  Surely Marcus’s mom would’ve kept them in line and made them keep everything in shape.  They’d never broached the subject of parents, but Esca had always suspected that there was pain in that story.

An odd scraping sound approached fast from the kitchen.  Esca’s heart raced for a moment before a small ball of white and gray fur came barreling around the corner and down the hall.  The small puppy lunged at Esca and jumped at his feet, begging for attention.

“Who’s this?”  Esca laughed, a seemingly rare sound.

“His name is Cub.  You can change it if you want.  A woman in town had a dog that’d just had a litter of puppies,” Marcus replied.  His reserved behavior was strange, Esca assumed it was due to their kiss the previous day.

“Cub.  I like that.  He’s a husky?”

“Alaskan Malamute, actually.”

“Oh,” Esca nodded knowingly, although he actually had no idea what the difference was.

As if guessing that Esca was putting up a front Marcus continued, “Yeah, he’ll get bigger than a husky for sure.  And he’ll also likely be a bit dumber.”  Marcus rubbed the small bristles of hair on the back of his head.  It was a tick of his he seemed to do often, though usually when he was embarrassed or nervous.  Esca found it charmingly endearing.

“Esca,” Gordon Aquila nodded as he met the two at the front door.  He’d been in the kitchen preparing lunch it seemed.  “Welcome back.”  Marcus’s uncle seemed anything but welcoming, Esca had never felt that Gordon had ever warmed up to him.

“Thanks,” Esca smiled.  Cub let out a small high-pitched bark, warning Esca not to forget that he was there and still wanted that attention.  Esca’s heart warmed and for the briefest moment he forgot what had happened.

 

*~*~*

 

Benson nights were dark.  The brilliant star formations free from normal city light pollution couldn’t sufficiently light the pitch blackness that surrounded the farm houses on the east side of the town.  It was never a problem without night visitors, hence why Gordon had fallen into a habit of not turning on his front porch light.

A tall man stood in that darkness watching the ranch.  Studying it.  He wore a long black trench coat that fit tightly to his slender frame.  For minutes he stood, unmoving, taking in the ranch as a whole before stepping up to the windows and peering in.

A dog crate in the kitchen held a tiny puppy, obviously still being house broken, as he seemed confined to that crate whenever no one was awake.  The ranch was two stories, however it was still very small.  This would help a lot.  The man formulated his plan then turned swiftly and walked away, coat flowing behind him as he made his way back to the rented car down the long ranch driveway. 

He’d get what he came for tomorrow night.

 

*~*~*

 

“Hey,” Jane said startling Marcus a bit.  She’d gotten into the habit of visiting him before she went to the school, however Marcus seemingly still hadn’t gotten used to it.

“Hey yourself,” he grunted picking up another board and placing it carefully on the barn.

“Still nothing on our mystery beasts,” she sighed, defeated.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.  Marcus we need to find out who they were.  I mean fuck!  I thought it was just us two!”

Marcus rubbed the back of his head.  He knew she was right, the mystery had been bothering him too.  However everything had bothered him in the last month.  Hell he just found out that he could turn into a fucking mountain lion. 

“What do you know about all this?  I mean the changing and why I’m a lion and you’re a bear?”

“Honestly?  Not much.  The first couple times it happened to me I was totally lost and freaking.  You’re uncle actually found me and basically told me he knew what was happening.  When I finally stopped freaking he helped me get it under control,” she shrugged, as if none of this really bothered her.  “He said he might have a contact that could help us better understand, but we apparently have to wait for the right time.”  Jane had thrown air quotes around most of her last sentence.

Now that Esca was back Marcus had found more and more time to dwell on his new abilities and the enigma they were wrapped in.  “What about your contact?”

“My contact?  With the sheriff’s office?  He doesn’t even know about the bear thing!”

Marcus continued working, his nonchalance opening up the conversation to some new topic.

“How’s Esca?”

Marcus stopped his work and sighed.  Jane’s brow furrowed, she’d hit the nail on the head of whatever was bothering Marcus.

“What is it?”

“I think…” Marcus stopped and took a deep breath.  “I realized a couple of days ago that I’ve seen him before.  Before I even came back to Benson!”

“Like in Dallas?”

“Yeah!”  Marcus shook his head.  “He was at David’s funeral.”

Jane was struck dumb for a moment.  “Wait… how’s that possible?”

Marcus shrugged.

“And you’re sure that it wasn’t just a dream or something?  I mean memories are a funny thing.”

“I’m sure of it,” Marcus nodded.  He’d speculated that perhaps his draw towards Esca had actually been born out of the fact that he was even the slightest bit familiar.  He was sure that had he heard Esca speak at the funeral there would’ve been no question he would’ve recognized him.

“Did he know David?”

Marcus sighed again, “I haven’t brought it up.  But I mean… really neither of us knows.”

“Unless he’s lying about his memory.”

Marcus paused in thought.  He prayed that wasn’t true.

 

*~*~*

 

“How have you been sleeping?”  Dr. Watson crossed his legs, a yellow pad of paper resting on them.

Esca scoffed, “How do you think?”

Dr. Watson never reacted to Esca’s negative outburst.  It was common for such a case to have emotional swings and he didn’t want to give Esca’s negativity any power by acknowledging it.

“I’m so sick of all this,” Esca spat.

“All what exactly?”

Esca patted his head angry, as if attempting to smack the memories loose.  “I want to know who I am!  This is horrible, it’s like I’m trapped!”

“Esca,” Dr. Watson sighed.  “You may find that you are really going to have to examine and face what happened to you.  Your body AND your mind went through a horrible ordeal, and until you can really face what’s happened, you may not gain much in the memory department.”

Esca quieted, mulling what Dr. Watson was suggesting.

“And I hate to say it, but that won’t be easy.”

“But I lost my memories before… it happened.”

Dr. Watson nodded, sadness briefly showing on his face.  “Yes, but what happened didn’t help.  You may’ve gained your name but who knows what you lost to get it?”

Esca shifted uncomfortably.  The conversation had taken a turn he’d have rather avoided.  Esca deflected with a change of subject.  “What’s the odds of two Brits in this town?”

 

*~*~*

 

Darkness, a comforting blanket for the tall man as he approached the house again.  Tonight was his night to take care of it.

He tested the door.  It’d been locked the night before, considering what’d happened to one of the men in there, he wasn’t surprised.  His deft hands unlocked the door with ease. 

Silently he pushed the door open, careful to avoid line of sight from the dog crate.  Swiftly he shut it behind him and flew up the stairs, his coat waving behind.  The first bedroom he tested revealed the old man, Gordon was his name.  He was lying on his back snoring. 

The tall man didn’t need to open the second bedroom door across the hall.  The sounds of the young man experience what were likely nightly night terrors alerted to him that Esca was residing there.

That left the far door across from the bathroom.  He pushed the door open to find Marcus lying on his side facing the door, his eyes shut.  The tall man let out a breath of relief.  He hated having to react to an awake target.

He reached into his right pocket for the first sharp instrument.  With a blur of speed he punctured Marcus’s throat with the micro needle and quickly jumped back into the darkness.

Marcus awoke for a brief moment, a whisper of shock fading as he fell into a deeper sedation.

The tall man joined Marcus’s side again, confident in his victim’s deep slumber.  From his left pocket he retrieved his large syringe.  He pierced Marcus’s substantial arm and began to collect his blood, the red liquid filling the tube. 

The tall man smirked.  This was too easy.

 

*~*~*

 

“What is it Marcus?!  What’s the 9-1-1?!”  Jane said bursting through the front door to find Marcus and Gordon sullenly sitting around the table in the kitchen.

Marcus turned his right arm to show Jane.  A small red dot with light bruising surrounding it.  Nothing too threatening to most.  But Jane understood almost instantly.

“Your blood?”  Jane said falling into a seat at the table.

Marcus nodded.  “Has to be.  Someone tranquilized me last night.  I woke up with this.”

“Did you see who it was?”

Marcus shook his head.  “But with Glass’s message I think we can take a guess.”

“That means someone got in here last night!”  Jane was furious.  “Where’s Esca?!”

“At physical therapy,” Gordon grunted.

“Shit,” Jane rubbed her forehead.  “Okay what does this mean?  I mean… will our blood be different?  Will they be able to find us?”

“I think it’s time for you two to meet her,” Gordon said seemingly not listening to Jane’s concern.

“Who?”  Marcus asked.

“A woman.  I don’t know her name.  She knows more about all of this than anybody.  I only have her contact information.  She can tell you more than I about all of this.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about her before?”  Marcus growled.

Gordon looked intensely sad, as if using this woman was the worst-case scenario.  “Because Marcus, she knows everything.  Things that may upset you.”

“Like what?”

Gordon shook his head.  “I can’t.  You’ll have to hear it from her.”

“When can we talk to her?”  Jane interrupted.

“I’ll contact her.  She’ll decide.”

Marcus frowned.  How many secrets could this town possibly hold?

 

*~*~*

 

_Heavy black fabric surrounded Esca.  His head darted around anxious energy causing his chest to beat with intense fear.  Movement to his right caused him to jump, but his feet stayed planted to the hard ground._

_More movement, he was surrounded by dark figures running around in the black.  Music haunted this world he found himself trapped in.  The angry melody and dark harmony scored this terrible experience as Esca’s breath quickened._

_Esca felt a familiar instinct light within him and he knew he had to move forward, through the black.  His legs bounded from the surface below and he burst through the barrier into a new world._

_Darkness still prevailed, however bright lights illuminated the darkness, creating a façade of evil as he struck a pose and froze, exactly as his body commanded._

_Beyond the lights were people.  Hundreds of people, all sitting and staring at him.  His body began to move with the music, commanding every muscle to flex in exactly the right way at the exact right time._

_He was dancing.  That terror in the pit of his stomach had been nerves.  Now in front of all these people he felt at home.  Wonder took over as he performed his solo with haunting beauty reminiscent of the ballet’s score._

_He was home._

Esca opened his eyes.  Dr. Watson sat in front of him, his eyebrow cocked in wonder if the hypnosis session had worked.

“I was a dancer.”

 

*~*~*

 

Marcus peeled his shirt off as he stepped into his bedroom.  It’d been a long day.  He’d gotten a surprising amount of work done on the barn, despite the lingering fears about what had just happened.  Esca had a double session at Dr. Watson’s and Dr. Watson agreed to drive him home when they were finished.  Marcus wondered if he should tell Esca what happened.  He had a right to know and he should probably not stay at the ranch any longer.  But where would he go?

Marcus slumped into his old desk chair, afraid for the briefest moment that it would shatter under his exhausted weight.  He opened his laptop and went to check his e-mail.  All questions about Esca faded and Marcus felt chills awaken on his arms and the back of his neck as he saw the most recent unread e-mail:

 

FROM:  “La Plante, M.” <m.laplante@lpi.com>

TO:  “Marcus Flavius Aquila” <marcusfaquila@gmail.com>

SUBJECT:  I know your secret

 

Marcus;

 

I hope this e-mail finds you in good spirits.  I understand that this is quite sudden for you.  It is not common for me to contact someone so soon after his or her first shift, however it is urgent that we meet.  I know of your current financial situation and so I will fly to you.  Do not be alarmed.  I have no intention of causing you pain or trouble.  I am looking forward to seeing what you can do.  If my informant is correct, you have quite the shifters in your small town. 

 

I look forward to your correspondence.

 

-M

 

Marcus’s eyed darted through the lines of text for a third time.  He couldn’t trust it.  Having been raised on a ranch from a near technophobe like Gordon Aquila, Marcus had inherited some of his uncle’s distrust of electronic communication.

With such a sensitive issue Marcus was too afraid to actually act.  He simply shut his computer and ran through everything in his head again.  Hopefully his uncle’s contact would shed some light on all of this. 

Hopefully.

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

Esca – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

 

 

 

Supporting Cast…

John Watson – Martin Freeman

Tall Man – Benedict Cumberbatch

Dr. Linda Shepherd – Radha Mitchell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode title is from the composition "Ecstatic Waters" (which will undoubtedly provide more episode titles in the future). "Augurs" is the second movement and it's kind of boring on its own. You should just listen to the whole piece....
> 
> Ecstatic Waters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HmJ1Hwkr94
> 
> Scenes from next week's episode "Vintage":
> 
> Marcus and Jane explore Uncle Aquila's suggestion, leading them to a small farmhouse far off the highway deep in the middle of nowhere Texas. This farmhouse could answer every question the two have had to face. Meanwhile, Esca having been left alone at the ranch finds himself in trouble again. Will anyone be there to save him?


	7. Vintage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MAIN TITLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW6vOGe28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This title is really just a reference to the fact that I was going on all historical. There will be more of this in the future, but I wanted to answer some questions. That being said, there is a piece called "Vintage" and it's nice.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPjEq6SgReM
> 
> Scenes from next week's episode "Playing with Fire":
> 
> Esca's dark realizations continue with another shocker. He's desperate to ignore them and try his best to stay innocent. He and Marcus get closer. Meanwhile Jane confronts Garrett with their new found information.

**Episode 107 “Vintage”**

 

“How sure are we about this?”  Jane shifted nervously.

Marcus knocked on the aged wooden door a second time.  “Fifty-fifty.”

“Really?”  Jane dismissed.  They’d followed Gordon’s instructions to a small home in what could only be described as the middle-of-nowhere, Texas.  It was about an hour outside of town and far removed from the highway and civilization.

The door opened.  Both guests were startled when at first no one stood in front of them.  Then they both trained their eyes down.  Sitting in a wheelchair with a bright smile was an old woman.  She had transcendental beauty that suggested back in her day she was quite the heartbreaker.

“You must be Marcus, and you’re Jane,” she said excitedly shaking both of their hands.  “Come in come in!”  Her British accent made Marcus pause to wonder just how many Brits actually did end up in the North Texas region.

She wheeled down her hallway to an ornate living room from a different time.  The architecture was exact and detailed, everything in its own perfect place.  She gestured to the couches and Marcus and Jane found comfortable positions around the woman’s coffee table as she wheeled up to a large bookshelf filled with hundreds of books and volumes.

“I can’t believe I’ve lived to see this day.  It is truly wonderful!”

Marcus shifted nervously.  He hated when older people spoke of death.  Especially as nonchalantly as her.

“What day?”  Jane deadpanned.

“Your generation!  I was so worried you wouldn’t make it!  With all of this evil I was so scared.  But just like all of the others, you persevered.”

Her eyes were watery with history.  She mourned those lost and clearly felt personally connected, making Marcus only more uncomfortable. 

“Who are you?”  Jane continued to question, seemingly unfazed by the woman’s emotion.

She smiled at Jane’s behavior.  “I’m not surprised Jane.  Miriam was also quite the skeptic, and firecracker for that matter.”

“My mom?”

“I knew Maynard too,” she winked.

Marcus was confused and looked at Jane.

“That was my grandfather’s name.”

“Yes Jane,” her smile faltered a moment.  “He was a very kind and strong man….”

“Who are you?”  Jane repeated.

The woman placed a large, worn book on the coffee table.  “This is a book I’ve compiled.  It has much of both of your families’ histories in it.  I guess you could say that I wrote the book on you guys.”  She winked and Marcus couldn’t help but smile.  The woman’s warmth was infectious.  “I am here to help you in any way possible.  My name is Rosemary Sutcliff.”

 

*~*~*

 

“Dispatch?”  Oliver said into his walkie-talkie, in his patrol car.

“Yeah Oliver?”

“I’m checking out the Aquila Ranch, there’s someone… suspicious.”

As dusk began to fall on the sleepy town, the Aquila Ranch seemed empty.  However standing in front of the ranch, unmoving was a tall dark figure.  The night approaching made the image foreboding. 

“Suspicious?”

Oliver ignored the voice and began driving down the dirt road, assuming that at any moment the man would hear the approaching vehicle and make a run for it.  Oliver prepared for the, however as he approached, knowing that the man could definitely hear his car, the tall figure did not flinch.

“What the…?”  Oliver stopped his car and removed his gun from its holster.  Opening the door and taking shelter behind it he called out “FREEZE!”

The tall man didn’t move.  He simply stared up at the second floor of the ranch, as if there were someone in the window.  In all fairness the man was freezing.  Oliver shook his head feeling stupid.

“Turn around,” he commanded.

“I think we should kill him,” the man said, his deep voice calm yet unnerving.  Something sounded off, like his voice was disguised, Oliver couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was.

“Turn around, NOW!”  Oliver’s brow furrowed, what was he going to do?  Shoot the guy?

“But that’s just my suggestion,” the man shrugged.  His right hand opened and something fell to the ground.  A flash of light blinded Oliver before a pillar of smoke began to flow heavily where the man had been.

Oliver ran into the smoke looking for him, but found nothing.  Worried that he may’ve entered the ranch Oliver bounded up the steps that needed serious work and pushed through the door, gun at eye level.

Oliver began checking each room he came across.  Having cleared the first floor Oliver began to creep up the steps quietly.  Oliver pushed the first door open.  An empty bedroom.  He crossed the hall to the second.  Before he could push the door open, something sprang out knocking the gun in the air before tackling him.  A leg came up and landed on his neck, pinning him to the ground.  He’d never been taken down like this before, it was a professional fighting style he’d never faced in Pennsylvania or Texas.

“Esca?”  Oliver wheezed.

“Deputy Fish?”  Esca’s brow furrowed in confusion.  They’d crossed paths a few times in Esca’s dealing with Sheriff Moss. 

“Get off!”

“Oh sorry,” Esca jumped back and Oliver coughed recovering from the slightly embarrassing take down.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”

Esca shrugged, “I dunno.”

 

*~*~*

 

_April 17, 1897_

_“Damnit Flav, what are we doing out here?”  Jameson groaned._

_“Shh…” Flavius Aquila stared into the cold, foggy sky.  A morning so cold in Texas was something of a mystery._

_The third member of the party stood silently staring.  She hadn’t said a word all morning._

_“This is preposterous,” Jameson continued to scoff._

_“Isi?”  Flavius smiled knowing she was on his side._

_She nodded with determination._

_“It’s gonna happen.  I just know it.”_

_Jameson grumbled as he held his arms closer, desperate for warmth. “Why’s it so cold?!”_

_The three friends stood in waiting.  The minutes passed longer than any could’ve dreamed.  Isi held her ground, trusting it would happen.  Flavius however felt his confidence dwindling with each passing silent second.  His cocky grin faded to a weak smile before falling into a disappointed frown._

_Just as the last twinge of hope faded from Flavius’s expression the silence of the morning broke.  First with a small gasp from Isi, immediately followed by a silver, cylindrical airborne object falling at a remarkable pace directly at the trio._

_“Good god!”  Jameson shouted ducking and pushing his friends out of the way.  The ship sailed over them and smashed into the large windmill behind them.  Debris and shrapnel exploded from the rough landing._

_“WAHOO!”  Flavius shouted jumping from their ducked position first._

_Jameson sat stunned as Isi bounded up and followed Flavius the to impact crater._

_A minute later the morning fog began to clear, if only to be replaced by the smoke of the crash surrounding the three friends who all stared at the eight-foot, cigar-shaped ship that’d just crashed._

_“It don’t even have wings?”  Flavius remarked in awe.  He knew he was the least intelligent of the three.  Luckily that wasn’t something Flavius concerned himself with._

_“Shit…” Jameson breathed._

_In Isi’s tribe her name meant deer, embodying such a nervous, flighty animal seemed impossible for the incredibly brave and outspokenly strong woman.  Isi reached a hand out, hesitating.  Jameson and Flavius couldn’t move, Isi’s bravery outdoing both of the men.  Jameson held his breath in suspense as Isi’s finger graced the side of the ship._

_A whispering whir began to churn inside the object.  Flavius let out a syllable resembling a “huh?”_

_With a click three silver spidery tendrils poked out from the machine slowly, discovering the world around them.  “Flav?”  Jameson asked, worried, his body unmoving, as if Flavius was the only person to allow it._

_Isi held an expression of determination, resolved to not show fear._

_Flavius’s fear had morphed to intrigued curiosity as the spindles reached closer, each having obviously searched out the three friends.  They didn’t give any of them a chance to react.  Closing in the last few inches of space between the tendrils and the young friends, the silver spike shot out, solidifying into needles and piercing their skin.  Isi exhaled in pain as something entered their bodies through the metal._

_The three instantly began to writhe in pain as the tendrils retracted into the ship, leaving no trace of having ever existed.  The three friends fell, clutching their abdomens, pain invading their conscious minds._

_Unbeknownst to Jameson, Flavius reached his hand out despite the overwhelming pain and grabbed Isi’s hand in his, squeezing it in an attempt at comfort.  What they shared was beyond forbidden, so much so that Flavius had hid it from his oldest friend, though in this moment, one of fear and with surety they would die, Flavius ignored his fears and took Isi’s hand out of love._

_She’d loved him unconditionally, despite his low status, uneducated upbringing, and most of all – his race._

_“What’s happening?!”  Jameson screamed, his clothes began to rip down the seams as his body began to… change._

*~*~*

 

“I was hiding up here.  That freak just stood down there for like thirty minutes,” Esca recounted.

“Did you know him?”  Oliver asked taking a seat at the kitchen table with Esca.

“Actually…” Esca gasped.  “He looked familiar.  But… I can’t quite remember why.”

“That’s good!”  Oliver smiled.  “Maybe that means something’s coming back.”

“That’s bad,” Esca sighed.  “What if I’m in trouble?  What if he is stalking me or something?”

“In this town we don’t let our folks get threatened or hurt,” Oliver shrugged.  “You’re safe here.”

Esca hid his smirk.  It was a kind gesture, but considering how easily Esca had taken Oliver down, he didn’t feel all that relieved.

 

*~*~*

 

“Wow,” Marcus exhaled.  The shock of the story unwilling to wear off.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”  Jane protested.

“Jane!”

Rosemary chuckled, unfazed by her guest’s outburst.

“No Marcus.  Are you seriously buying this?  She’s fucking crazy!  Aliens?”  Jane continued indignantly, but trademark Jane.

“I never _actually_ said ‘aliens’, I just said ‘a ship,’” Rosemary nearly teased.

“Big whoop!”

“Jane…” Marcus groaned, knowing he couldn’t actually calm her down.

Rosemary sobered as Jane at least quieted to hear more.  “You two will need time to digest all of this.  I know that.”  She wheeled over to her bookshelf and grabbed a framed picture.  “I cannot stress to you how imperative it is that you two watch out for each other.  You will be facing the most difficult challenge of your life.  The end result of which _will_ mean life or death.”

Before Jane could react to the newest crazed message, Rosemary placed the framed picture in front of them.  The photo looked to be from the mid-eighties, small yellow lettering confirmed 1983.

Seven people smiled and held each other as they stared at the camera.  The easiest to pick out initially was an already elderly Rosemary.  Jane gasped, a hiccup of emotion welling.  Marcus zeroed in on what had made her react.  To the left of Rosemary were a man and a woman holding each other affectionately.  It was Taylor and Miriam Brown, Jane’s parents.

Marcus swallowed as his suspicions were confirmed.  To the right of Rosemary were his parents, Flavius and Dawn Aquila.  His reaction was much less severe, Jane had lost both of her parents only a few years ago, while Marcus had been four years old when his parents perished in a car accident.

“How…” Jane managed before silencing.

“Only two people in this photo are still alive today,” Rosemary said with considerable reverence.

“Two?”  Marcus asked before look to the last couple in the photo.  “Holy shit!”

“Oh… my… God,” Jane covered her mouth.

Staring at the camera, wearing a smile that almost seemed out of place was the most unlikely of women… Sheriff Meredith Moss and her deceased husband Allan.

“Three people in this photo had the same abilities you two posses.  Flavius Aquila, named after his great grandfather could turn into the most magnificent, golden mountain lion,” Rosemary smiled, fond memories playing about her head.  “And that firecracker Miriam Brown, who could turn into a black bear bigger than all the boys.”

Jane laughed, her emotion betraying the steely reserve she’d been trying to put on fading as Rosemary presented more and more evidence. 

“And finally, Allan Moss,” she sighed.

Marcus felt his stomach do a somersault as the gravity of the situation became real.

“His form was a very formidable…”

“…Wolf,” Marcus breathed. 

 

*~*~*

 

Oliver sighed stepping into his home far too late.  He went straight for the safe in the living room to deposit his firearm before relieving Sharon, his impromptu babysitter for days like this.  She was on hand to care for Sierra when he was held up at the station.  It worked great because her daughter was the same age and lived just next door. 

A light chuckle followed by a man’s voice in the backyard made Oliver stand up in fright.  He’d never understood a parent’s hairpin trigger when it came to their child’s safety until he found himself in the unplanned situation of being a father.  He removed his gun from its holster and held it facing the ground as he approached his backyard.

There was a man with his daughter, that was enough for Oliver to unsheathe his gun and investigate.  He pushed through the screen door and aimed his gun at the man.  A look of shock and fear gazed back at him as his daughter chuckled, unknowing of what was happening as she was deep inside her pristinely constructed Princess Palace. 

“Oliver?”  Tom whispered in terror as he was still facing at the business end of a Ruger 9mm.

“Oh, jeez, sorry,” Oliver pulled the gun away and holstered it in the back of his pants.  “I just… I heard a man’s voice and Sierra’s supposed to be at Sharon’s.”

Tom, still flustered tripped over his words almost as much as Oliver, “Yeah… I should’ve called, I… I came over to uhh… offer help?”  He added as if a question while nodding to the newly constructed playhouse.  “And Sierra was on the front steps.”

Sierra exited her Palace to greet her dad.  “Daddy!”

“Sierra Rose!”  Oliver said with exasperation and relief that only a father could exhibit.  He hugged her close lifting her high off the ground, his heart still pounding from the perceived threat.  Sierra giggled in delight.

“You forgot daddy,” Sierra said as he put her down.

Oliver almost questioned what she’d said but realized, “Sharon’s baby!”  She’d been pregnant for nearly ten months and was due any day.  She’d warned Oliver that he had to be as punctual as possible because she could not be home for Sierra in time if she went into labor.  Sierra had her own house key, but Oliver didn’t need to ask, she’d likely forgotten it.  She had a bad habit of forgetting that key.

“I saw her on the front step when I came by,” Tom explained.  “So I hopped your back fence and we hung out back here.”

“You built the Princess Palace,” Oliver replied in awe at the construction he’d failed so miserably at.

“Yeah,” Tom flushed deep red.  “And then killed time waiting for you to get back.”

“Thank you, Tom.”

“Yeah, it was nothing,” he said still flustered.  “I have to go.  Bye Sierra!”

“Bye!”

“You sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?”  Oliver tried.

Tom frowned, “I should go.”  And nearly as fast as the first time, Tom bolted from the Fish household.

 

*~*~*

 

“Esca?!”  Marcus shouted barging into the ranch.

“In here!”  Esca called from the kitchen. 

Marcus jogged in to find Esca sitting at the table finishing a sandwich.  Standing in the kitchen, leaning against the wall was Gordon.  He shook his head disapprovingly before placing his glass of water in the sink and leaving the two of them alone.

“Oliver Fish called and said someone was here?”

Esca shrugged.  “It’s no big deal.”  It wasn’t hard to tell he was lying.  “I’ve got cub.”  The puppy sauntered by as if on cue.

“Esca,” Marcus said exasperated.  “What is going on?”

“Dunno,” Esca shrugged again standing and placing his paper plate in the trash.  “Were you worried about me?”

He approached Marcus, a different Esca than before had taken hold.  In such close proximity Marcus became flustered.  The man was undeniably sexy.  He pushed even closer, almost touching.

“I uh…” Marcus was dumb with attraction.

Esca smirked.  “It’s alright big guy.  I’ll be fine.”  He patted Marcus’s tight abdomen before sauntering upstairs.

It was moments like that when Marcus found he forgot everything around him.  The world was dark except for that beautiful, mysterious man.  He exhaled a shaky breath.

 

*~*~*

 

“How dare you!”  Dr. Watson shouted as he returned to their small, two-bedroom apartment in the neighboring town of Denton.

“How dare I what?”  His flat mate’s posh accent welcoming a fight.

“You know what you did!  We have our orders!  He’s not to be touched!”

“Did he tell you I touched him, John?”

Dr. Watson stuttered, “Well… well no.  Why can’t you just stay out of it?!”

“He’s DANGEROUS John!”  The tall man exploded in a rare fit of rage.  “He could kill hundreds of people!  He’s already killed one.  He needs to be taken care of… NOW!”

John Watson took a deep breath.  “We have our orders,” he said with a calmer demeanor.  “Esca MacCunoval is not to be touched.  We’ll get him when the time is right, Sherlock.”

 

*~*~*

 

Starring…

Marcus Aquila – Channing Tatum

Esca MacCunoval – Jamie Bell

Deputy Oliver Fish – Scott Evans

Jane Brown – Jennifer Lawrence

Garrett Moss – Garrett Hedlund

Tom Schneider – Tom Welling

with…

Donald Sutherland as Gordon Aquila

and

Annette O’Toole as Martha Schneider

 

 

 

Supporting Cast…

John Watson – Martin Freeman

Sherlock Holmes – Benedict Cumberbatch

Sierra Rose Fish – Elsie Kate Fisher

Rosemary Sutcliff – Vanessa Redgrave

Flavius Aquila (Sr.) – Wentworth Miller

Isi Migisi – Moon Bloodgood

Jameson Orel – Karl Urban


End file.
